Manchester United were unaware that a police report for an alleged assault on a woman had been filed against Antony more than three months before the club signed the Brazil winger for £85 million from Ajax, Telegraph Sport has learnt.
Rayssa de Freitas filed a complaint to Sao Paulo Civil Police in May 2022 in which she alleged she was attacked by Antony and a woman after an argument in a car following a night out in Brazil.
De Freitas, a law student, claimed she required hospital treatment in the wake of the alleged incident. Antony strenuously denies the allegations.
United say they carried out due diligence checks on Antony as they do all transfer targets before signing him but that their investigations unearthed no evidence of any domestic abuse allegations or police involvement regarding the player.
The club only became aware of the police report via media reports in Brazil this month, when they were also shared by Antony’s representatives. Telegraph Sport is looking into claims De Freitas’s report has since been retracted in full.
Antony, 23, played for two seasons under Erik ten Hag, now the United manager, at Ajax before his move to Old Trafford on September 1 last year saw him become the 13th most expensive player in the world at the time.
United had originally valued Antony at around £55 million but ended up paying far over their original valuation given Ten Hag’s eagerness to bring the Brazilian to Old Trafford.
Antony is currently on paid leave from United while he fights allegations against him. Police in Manchester and Sao Paulo are investigating claims Antony subjected a former girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin to a number of attacks between June last year and May this year. Antony vehemently denies the allegations.
The De Freitas case is not the first time United’s due diligence checks on players failed to reveal findings of concern.
In 2014, United signed then Argentina defender Marcos Rojo from Sporting Lisbon for £16 million.
But United were unaware that Rojo was being investigated by police at the time for an alleged bottle attack on two men in Argentina.
Rojo was facing the threat of a criminal trial but it was not until a member of staff typed the player’s name in Google to find out more about the new signing that the club became aware of the situation. Rojo settled out of court and the case was dropped.
This month, it emerged that the first manager of United’s women’s team, Geoff Konopka, was a special guest at a game at Old Trafford last year and commemorated in the club museum, despite being a convicted paedophile and having an active suspension on the Football Association’s safeguarding system.
Konopka, who was in charge of United Ladies from 1983 to 2001, visited Old Trafford as a guest for a Women’s Super League match against Everton in March last year that was attended by thousands of children.
Konopka, 79, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2011 and put on the sex offenders’ register for a decade after being convicted of 19 offences of indecent assault and gross indecency against girls aged 16 and 14.
United said they had removed all mention of Konopka from museum displays and would have no further connection with the individual after learning of his convictions. The club also said there had been no breaches of its safeguarding obligations and that they had referred the situation “as a matter of urgency” to the relevant legal and football authorities.
