The Michail Antonio comeback tale is one of those feel-good stories which unites football fans all across the game, from West Ham United throughout the Premier League and the whole of the continent.
And Lucas Perez, a teammate of Antonio’s when the Jamaica international was still a rampaging winger tapping into his vast potential, was as delighted as anyone to see his old friend make a truly remarkable return to professional football this month.
Michail Antonio ‘changed the game’, too, despite spending only a few minutes on the pitch during Jamaica’s CONCACAF Gold Cup opener against Guatemala. That brief but impressive ten-minute cameo his first appearance since West Ham United were beaten 3-1 by Leicester City at the beginning of December.
What the future holds for a 36-year-old forward hoping to recover peak fitness seven months after breaking his leg in a horrific car accident remains to be seen. Contract talks between West Ham and Antonio stalled earlier this month.
The club have also confirmed, via their official website, that the former Nottingham Forest and Southampton speedster will leave the London Stadium as a free agent unless fresh terms can be agreed.
Lucas Perez admits Michail Antonio ‘amazed’ him at West Ham United
No matter how his Hammers story ends, though, Lucas Perez remembers Michail Antonio as a footballer who almost defied the very basics of biology. A man so strong yet so unfeasibly fast. A bodybuilder’s torso on a sprinter’s legs.
Michail Antonio would often ‘bully’ even the strongest centre-halves into submission. So if anyone can recover stronger than ever from an injury which looked initially to have torn the curtain down on his entire professional career, it’s him.
“Michael Antonio is a great colleague of mine and a friend,” smiles Perez, who spent the 2018/19 season at the London Stadium. “I am very happy about his recovery because he is a wonderful person. I’m very happy that he was able to recover because it gave me a huge scare.
“Antonio is built like a wardrobe! The player with the physique that I was [most] amazed by. How can he run at that speed with those muscles? He has muscles that I didn’t even know existed!
“How can he be so strong?”
Perez remembers playing alongside Declan Rice at West Ham
It is testament to the quality of West Ham’s frontline that season that Lucas Perez only started four Premier League games, stuck behind Marko Arnautovic and Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez in Manuel Pellegrini’s pecking order.
Veteran full-back Pablo Zabaleta also made a lasting impression on Perez, alongside the ponytailed powerhouse Andy Carroll and a baby-faced Declan Rice.
When PSV took on Arsenal in last season’s Champions League round-of-16, meanwhile, a now-36-year-old striker would find himself reunited with a familiar face as The Gunners stormed to a 7-1 win in Eindhoven.
“When I was there, I also met Pablo Zabaleta. There was a group of characters in the dressing room,” recalls Perez. “I was there at the start of Declan Rice. I have Declan’s shirt from when [Arsenal] beat us in the Champions League.
“An incredible dressing room, spectacular [players]. With Chicharito, who is a very good friend of mine.
“Arnautovic is a very peculiar guy but a very good guy. He has a very good heart. I also got along very well with him. And then the legendary Andy Carroll.”
While Marko Arnautovic leaves Inter Milan in pursuit of another new adventure, former Arsenal, Alaves and Deportivo La Coruna striker Lucas Perez is set to depart Eredivisie champions PSV after an illness robbed him of his chance to make a major impression in Dutch football.
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