Michail Antonio might not have played a Premier League match this calendar year, but it would be wrong to say the West Ham United icon has not kicked a competitive ball since his car crash in December 2024.
Michail Antonio actually made a ‘miracle’ return to action with the Jamaican national team during the summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign.
Antonio scored twice for West Ham’s Under-21 side in a friendly victory over Boreham Wood, too.
So while the 35-year-old veteran is still waiting for the chance to kick-start his senior career in club football – Brentford opted against offering a contract to a free-agent centre-forward a few weeks ago – he feels he has proven himself capable, even in limited opportunities, of still offering something in the professional game.
West Ham United’s all-time record Premier League goalscorer has no plans to hang up his boots yet, approaching the one-year anniversary of that horror car crash in which Michail Antonio suffered a broken leg.
West Ham United hero Michail Antonio wishes he had scored on his Jamaica return
It has been five months now since his contract expired at the London Stadium.
“I wasn’t done with football, and I didn’t want my career to be finished in a car crash,” Antonio says on the Kenny Allstar’s Number Ones show.
“The first thing I asked the doctors was, ‘am I going to play again?’ That was me [once the doctor said yes]. ‘Alright, no problem, that’s all I need to know’.
“I know I’ve still got more in me.”
Antonio does wish that he could have marked his return to the pitch in the most Hollywood of fashion, though. Had a Jamaica teammate had the vision to see him waiting for a simple tap-in during the CONCACAF Gold Cup, his strike in a 4-1 thrashing of Ipswich Town back in October 2024 would not be his most recent goal in competitive action.
“Still to this day, it burns me. One of the players at Jamaica has gone through, I’m standing [with an] open goal,” Antonio sighs. “I am screaming at him! Screaming! Let me have this moment, first game back, comeback story, it’s written in the stars.
“He missed! And the worst thing about it, he missed and [his shot] goes half a yard behind me! I’m stretching my leg so much just to get the touch but it goes behind me.”
Antonio recalls terrifying Declan Rice on Halloween
By his own admission, Antonio misses the atmosphere at Rush Green more than any other aspect of his time at West Ham.
“It’s the camaraderie, the banter, the people we used to chill with and just run jokes,” Antonio admits. “That’s one thing I used to do, prank people, all that madness all the time. It was just unbelievable.
“The craziest prank? The prank I did on Declan Rice.
“It’s coming up to Halloween, we are doing an appearance type thing. I’m in the back of a car in a Mike Myers mask and I jump out. Deccers! Oh man, that was dark!”
Antonio has not given up hope of resuming his playing career, even after Brentford closed the door.
“My hopes, to get a team going and do what I love,” he adds, nearly one year on from the car crash which brought a premature end to his long spell at West Ham.
“I’m not going to let my career be defined by a car crash. [I want] to show everybody that I’ve still got it and enjoy the thing that I love.”
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