Antony, SAD and the latest victim of Manchester’s MISERABLE weather

Antony made an admission that might have taken Manchester United fans by surprise: he claimed that the additional sunlight in Seville has helped to improve his form and shake him out of the malaise that he was experiencing at Old Trafford.

Just three league matches into his Real Betis adventure, he has three Man of the Match awards and is looking much more like the €95 million winger that Man Utd thought they were signing.

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The turnaround has been as quick as it has been dramatic.

So what does Antony put it down to?

“I’ve found myself here,” he said. “The people here are like us in Brazil and the sun also helps a lot. The city is better and I am very happy. Every day I wake up smiling and that is the most important thing for me.”

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Manchester’s infamous climate

Manchester’s climate is known for being wet and grey. Annually, there are around 1,4000 hours of sunshine compared to Antony’s hometown of Sao Paulo, where there are 2,300 hours on average.

Antony is not the first footballer to cite the weather in Manchester as a problem.

Another historic Old Trafford flop Angel Di Maria might not have commented on the climate of the region, but his wife certainly did.

“We travelled to Manchester on vacation for a year. It was always horrible!” Jorgelina Cardoso told the TV show ‘Los Angeles de la Manana’.

Di Maria had moved from Real Madrid to the Premier League giants, with Cardoso stating the weather in the Spanish capital was “perfect”.

United are not the only club to have suffered. Manchester City’s first blockbuster signing Robinho also struggled to adapt, with the climate an issue for him.

Can bad weather really make a footballer worse?

The symptoms that Antony describes are akin to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which can impact athletes, and indeed regular people, in many ways. One of these is low mood and motivation, which he has expressly stated has improved since he moved to Seville.

“Obviously Mother Nature thinks people should shut down for the winter if they live far from the equator,” Dr Paul Desan, director of the Winter Depression Research Clinic at Yale, told The Guardian.

“Most people – nine out of 10 – feel better in the summer to some extent.”

Specific studies relating to athletes from sunnier regions, like the Brazil of Antony or Robinho, or Angel Di Maria’s Argentina, are limited, but there is evidence to suggest that these players could be affected in a greater manner.

It would certainly be understandable given that these players have not grown up with dark north European winters.

What does this mean for Antony?

Antony’s continuation at Manchester United has certainly not been ruled out, but his agent has already hinted that the player wants to remain in Spain.

“Spanish football greatly strengthens Antony’s main technical and physical characteristics. He has more freedom to use all his skills to the advantage of efficiency in attack,” Junior Pedroso told Fabrizio Romano.

But Antony’s comments show that there is more to his happiness in Spain than just the football, everything down to the very climate suits him.

It may well be that Manchester’s miserable weather has claimed another victim.