Premier League star Michail Antonio isn’t your typical footballer – and he’s certainly not shy about lifting the lid on what happens behind the sporting scenes.
Nine years may have passed since Antonio journeyed from Nottingham Forest to West Ham back in 2015, but it doesn’t mean there haven’t been knocks for his signature since, the Mirror report. In fact, the 34-year-old has evidently worked out how his way of navigating transfer interest during a long-spanning career that started in 2008.
Transfers are part and parcel of the footy-sphere, yet much of the unseen activity in the sport remains a mystery. Eager Antonio had no qualms splashing the details on how exchanges happen between clubs and agents in his experience when quizzed about the processes if a team shows interest in his services.
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He brought up his own experience on the High Performance podcast and explained: “So, I have an agent, and mine is like a brother to me. I used to play with him. The craziest thing is I used to play with him at Tooting and Mitcham. So he’ll get a phone call from the [interested] club saying, ‘We’re interested’. Then my agent will speak to West Ham and see whether they want to do it or not.
“And then sometimes he tells me, and sometimes he doesn’t. Because he doesn’t wanna distract me from my football. Unless he feels that it’s something that will drive me, then he will tell me.”
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(Image: High Performance Podcast)
When asked about any near exits from the London Stadium in the past, Antonio revealed that last summer was the “closest he’s come to leaving.” A club had submitted a bid that exceeded West Ham’s asking price, but the east London side decided not to sell.
The former Reading and Sheffield Wednesday star knew his value was high after a strong start to the season. This convinced the club that they didn’t need the kind of “young, fresh striker” often linked with a move.
(Image: BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
“No-one comes to you and says, ‘We’re gonna go young,’ but as you get older, you can feel it,” Antonio shared. “You feel like they’re kind of edging you out. And then you see they’re getting linked with more and more strikers [who are] younger, they have a different style of play.
“[You] see the type of players coming in, [are they] your style of play, or is it different? It’s all about the different philosophies, because every manager plays completely different. [Manuel] Pellegrini is completely different to David Moyes, Slaven Bilic is completely different to Pellegrini. So it’s all on their philosophies and whether I fit into it.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Antonio’s contract is set to expire this summer, and he could reach a decade at West Ham if both he and the club activate a 12-month extension clause. With three goals in his last five games, the Jamaica international is once again proving he may be worth the investment.