Rio Ferdinand hopes Antony's hefty £84million transfer fee doesn't weigh heavy on him in a similar way to Jack Grealish's Manchester City move.
The Brazilian arrived in Manchester on Monday to finalise a move to the Red Devils from Ajax and could be cleared to make his debut against Arsenal on Sunday.
Ajax winger Antony is in Manchester to tie up his £85m move to Old Trafford
Former United defender Ferdinand hopes to see Antony flourish at Old Trafford despite the huge transfer fee and believes Jack Grealish's performances suffered under similar circumstances after his £100m move to Manchester City last summer
"Antony, you hope he comes in at the levels he's coming in at, £100m or around that figure. You hope he comes in and it doesn't weigh heavily around his neck," Ferdinand told Vibe with Five podcast.
"You look at Grealish last year, he wasn't the same Grealish that played at Aston Villa, so it can weigh heavy. He won the league so he's happy, it doesn't matter."
He continued: "But sometimes players come in under big transfer fees and they don't play with the freedom they had before and that can be [due to] a couple of things.
"The price tag weighing heavy and the pressure and the attention being under the spotlight. A new environment and culture they're not used to and a team set up they're not used to.
"Those three things are big things that come into play when you sign but you have to have the personality and character to deal with all that.
Rio Ferdinand hopes Antony's start to life in Manchester will be more successful than Jack Grealish's
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Despite picking up a Premier League title medal Grealish's first season at City had it's challenges
Ferdinand was 23 years old when he signed for Manchester United for £30m in 2002, to become the most expensive British footballer in history at the time.
The former England international knows all about big expectation and huge transfer fees but urged caution ahead of Antony's arrival, insisting the Ajax star is not yet the finished article.
"People forget, you spend all that money on Antony, he's not the finished article. He's 22-years-old so you're buying potential. Don't think he's going to come in and be absolutely fire from the first day."
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