Even if it’s not been the best of seasons for West Ham United, there have been some positive aspects to it.
The Europa Conference League run would be the obvious one, though some individual performances have stood out.
Declan Rice continues to lead by example, whilst Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrahma have weighed in with their fair share of important goals.
At the opposite end of the pitch, Lukasz Fabianski has repaid the manager’s faith with some outstanding saves, but the pick of the bunch in 2022/23 has been Michail Antonio.
A real throwback centre-forward, Antonio puts himself about and makes life hell for opposing defenders.
He always works incredibly hard and younger members of the Hammers squad would do well to look to Antonio as a guide for the way to conduct yourself on the pitch.
That he has also top-scored for the east Londoners with 13 goals (and four assists) per BBC Sport, adds to his fine resume this season.
Despite his output, it would appear that the club are preparing to get rid of him in the summer.
“I think the forward position is going to be one to look at come the summer because there is lots of speculation that Michail Antonio could make that move in the summer,” Sky Sports journalist, Dharmesh Sheth, said to Give Me Sport.
“He was making noises himself about it in January on his podcast that he does where he wasn’t sure about his future at West Ham even in January.
“There was even talk that if West Ham could have brought in another striker, I think they were after Terem Moffi from Lorient. If they’d have managed to bring someone like him in, then they would have granted Antonio a move.
“I just wonder whether that’s just been deferred to the summer and whether West Ham United will look at all of their options up front.”
Whilst it’s true that Antonio is getting no younger at 33 years of age, if he’s still providing all the answers to the solutions, it seems an odd decision from the club to even consider parting company.
Particularly if they go on and win the Europa Conference League which would give them an automatic pass into next season’s Europa League.
What is it they say? You don’t know what you’ve got till you lose it…
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