Michail Antonio is, by his own admission, a fighter. He always has been. It got him into a few scrapes in his younger days but, more than anything, it got him to where he is now and it kept him there.
It kept him battling his way up from non-League, tussling for his chance, it got him to the Premier League and it’s kept him at West Ham for the past nine years.
Antonio sits in a Portakabin at West Ham’s Rush Green training ground and hears a list of some of the strikers with whom he has competed in the last near-decade: Simone Zaza, Jonathan Calleri, Marko Arnautovic, Javier Hernandez, Jordan Hugill, Lucas Perez, Sebastien Haller, Albian Ajeti, Danny Ings… and still Antonio is the main man.
‘I wouldn’t say main man,’ says Antonio with that trademark, infectious laugh. ‘There has been only one transfer window where I haven’t been linked away.
‘Every single year I have had to prove myself again. Every single year either a different manager has come in or the manager I had the year before was looking to bring someone in.
Michail Antonio has become the main man in West Ham’s attack despite their yearly spending
David Moyes (right) trusts Antonio and the player believes his fighting spirit has been a factor
‘I’m not the prettiest footballer but I know who I am and I understand that. But when I step on the field I know what I bring and I know what I can do. And at the end of the day, every manager sees the positives I can bring to the team and ends up starting to use me.’
David Moyes continues to use him.
Antonio started the Europa Conference League final as West Ham lifted their first major trophy in more than 40 years. He has started every Premier League game this season and could again on Sunday when West Ham face Aston Villa.
Yet for all the times he’s faced doubts or transfer rumours that he’s outstayed his welcome at West Ham, he’s kept going, kept fighting.
‘The knock-backs I got at Tooting & Mitcham… I went to Brentford and scored a goal and got an assist in the other game, they told me I’m a good player but they were going to keep an eye on me.
‘I went to QPR for six weeks. I won every single fitness test, and in the game they told me was the one to decide if they signed me I scored one and assisted one and they said, “You didn’t put enough crosses in”.
‘I went to AFC Wimbledon but they refused to pay £7 for my registration fee. So I went back to Tooting & Mitcham,…