Man Utd could field an entire XI that speaks Spanish/Portuguese if they sign Antony

Manchester United could field an entire side that speaks Spanish or Portuguese, rather than English, if they complete the signing of Ajax winger Antony.

The 22-year-old was missing from Ajax's squad for their 2-0 victory over FC Utrecht on Sunday afternoon and an £84 million transfer is close.

He's been one of Erik ten Hag's priority targets this summer and his arrival will be the third of United's recruits to hail from South America and second from Brazil.

Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro are from Argentina and Brazil respectively and it means United's foreign contingent is growing.

In fact, Antony would give United the option of playing an XI which doesn't speak English, but sister languages Spanish or Portuguese. Portuguese is the primary language of the country of Brazil and Argentina's is Spanish.

David de Gea is an accomplished Spain international, while in defence Raphael Varane can speak Spanish after ten years with Real Madrid.

Martinez's native language is Spanish and Diogo Dalot speaks Portuguese. Victor Lindelof was signed from Benfica and he lived in Portugal for five years.

In midfield it'd be Fred and new signing Casemiro, who have lost just one game when starting together for the Brazil national team.

An attacking trio of Antony, Bruno Fernandes [Portuguese] and teenage sensation Alejandro Garnacho [Spanish] would then support Cristiano Ronaldo [Portuguese and Spanish].

United lost their opening two games of the campaign to Brighton and Brentford, but responded by defeating Liverpool 2-1 on Monday and Southampton 1-0 on Saturday.

Victory over the Saints was their first away clean sheet since December and the first time they've registered back-to-back wins since February.

It was United's first away game since getting destroyed 4-0 by Brentford two weeks ago and ten Hag noted the Red Devils' massive improvement.

He told United's official website: "I think we did a lot better [than] against Brentford.

"I saw a team on the pitch, good organisation, fight for each other, following the rules and I think there were also some really good moments from playing football and we scored in the best part of [our play] after half-time.

"I think that 10, 15 minutes was really good. We played a really good possession game and we scored a wonderful goal."

United return to action on Thursday against Leicester City before welcoming top six rivals Arsenal to Old Trafford next Sunday.