At present it is not clear that West Ham’s all-time Premier league top scorer is ready to quit football. As soon as the signing of best mate Callum Wilson was confirmed, Michail Antonio’s future at West Ham was effectively over and one can only assume that the delay in signing free agent Wilson was caused by the club’s ultimately fruitless negotiations with Antonio over a new contract dragging on.
Claiming to have offers from other sides in the Premier League Championship and Saudi, Antonio may yet get one last payday which after the six months battle back to fitness is certainly deserved.
Once his playing days are over, though, it is evident that the Hammers intend to offer him a role at the club in recognition of the ‘special bond’ between the player and the club. As reported in the standard.co.uk, Graham Power lifted the lid on the thinking from within West Ham’s leadership;
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“It’s up to me to see where the next part of his career goes,” he said…[he won’t be playing for us but] We’re in the process of speaking about what he wants to do in the future, so I wouldn’t want to say too much. “If anything, it will be a role, maybe looking at with the [under-] 21’s, coaching, mentoring, that type of thing. But again, that will be up to him.”’
Which is unlikely to happen anytime soon: Having battled so hard to get back to fitness and with games under his belt for Jamaica and West Ham’s u21 side before leaving, the 35 year old will be desperate to see the fruits of his incredible recovery rewarded with a further season of football. With whom and at what level – who knows. Hopefully he’ll be back once he hangs his boots up to pass on the 10 years of Hammers expertise to a new generation of young stars of the future.