Michail Antonio has made an honest admission about his West Ham United teammate Jarrod Bowen.
Jarrod Bowen is currently filling in for Michail Antonio in the centre-forward role for West Ham, although both players recently suffered injuries whilst away on international duty.
The 26-year-old Hammers forward has been in sensational form so far this season, with nine goals and three assists to his name already (Transfermarkt).
David Moyes has been delighted with Bowen this season and right so, but Jimmy Walker blasted the Scot for wasting the former Hull City star as a striker against Crystal Palace and on certain other occasions this season.
With Antonio still out with a knee problem, Bowen was preferred to Danny Ings and Divin Mubama in the middle on Sunday during our 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
With a huge clash with Tottenham lying in wait tomorrow, Moyes will have to decide who to start as his centre-forward, because when Bowen plays there we miss his brilliance out wide on the right badly.
I wonder what the player himself thinks about it though? Well, Antonio has opened up on how he believes his teammate is feeling about performing centre-forward duties…
Michail Antonio makes Jarrod Bowen admission
The 33-year-old has been speaking on The Footballer’s Football Podcast – something that he has endured criticism for over the past year or so from fans and pundits alike.
And Antonio responded when asked what he thinks about the former Hull man playing in his centre-forward role:
“Honestly, I think he’s got the ability to do it. I think he’s got the qualities of a striker. He’s strong, he’s good on the ball, can come in deep, collect it. Another thing you said, he scores goals.”
Antonio then replied when asked if he sees Bowen evolving into a striker in the future:
“Yeah definitely. I think that he’ll probably end up there because obviously his quality and nous to always be in the right position, know where to be in the box. And he’s got an unbelievable finish about him. So I do feel like he could become a striker. I don’t think he enjoys it right now. He doesn’t get as much of the ball as he did out wide. And when you’re playing centre forward, you’ve got two centre halves constantly at your back. Whereas when you’re on the wide, you can drift into places and be unseen.”
I’m sorry, but I just find this quite strange once again from Mikey. Does he know for a fact that Bowen is not enjoying playing as a striker because he’s occupied by two centre-halves throughout the game?
If Antonio doesn’t know that and Bowen has said nothing of the sort to him, then he should have kept quiet really, rather than speculating on the matter.
Why do I feel like I’m saying this every single week about Antonio? In my opinion, professional athletes should not be partaking in podcasts during the competitive season. It does absolutely not good to anyone, and the Jamaica international nearly always ends up looking bad after sharing one of his opinions.
Michail Antonio also made sure to let everyone know just how hard it is for someone like Jarrod Bowen to play in the centre-forward role.
Listen, I prefer Bowen when he’s playing out wide on the right as well, but the 26-year-old is head and shoulders above Antonio in any position on the pitch!
This is yet another case of Antonio opening up on something that he really should have kept quiet about. I’m not saying there’s any malice behind it, but it’s just a bit naive in my opinion.
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