With Lisandro Martínez and Tyrell Malacia bought earlier in the transfer window, United’s outlay will climb over £200m with add‑ons factored in. This is close to £60m more than the budget Ten Hag was expected to get.
Ten Hag said: “They made adaptations [increased the money] because of how the market [was] and I think the club did that well. It’s difficult to answer that question [on Antony]. It’s hypothetical. You never know how things go, if you are earlier or later. It’s a process. First, we really quickly identified the positions we wanted and then identified the players we wanted. The process is if you get them or not.