‘Fit and ready’ Michail Antonio in talks over return to English football after contract offers

Michail Antonio continues to hold talks with clubs over a return to English football.

The former West Ham striker is determined to extend his career after being involved in a serious car crash in December 2024.

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Now 36, Antonio is a free agent, following a short stint with Qatari side Al-Sailiya at the end of the 2025/26 season.

And the Jamaica international insists he is fit enough to carry on playing professionally.

When asked about his future, Antonio told talkSPORT: “I’m speaking to clubs, giving a few clubs in England a call. I’m still having a chat in Qatar, but I’m still not too sure which way I’m going.

“I’m fit, I finished the season, I went to one of the lower teams in Qatar at the time.

“But I went there just for a nice new experience and lifestyle and stuff. So I’m definitely fit and raring to go.

“Every club I’ve been to have offered me a contract. So my physicality is not the reason why I’ve not played and didn’t play that much last year.

“Brentford did so well last year, they offered me a contract. Leicester, completely opposite, but they offered me one.

“And Charlton offered me a contract. So it’s not my physique or my physical movement stopping me.”

Sour taste

Antonio was released by West Ham in the summer of 2025 when his contract expired, six months after the car accident which left him with a shattered femur in his right leg.

Despite undergoing major surgery, the forward was back on the grass within four months of his injury, and playing for Jamaica by June.

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And he remains disappointed that West Ham decided not to offer him a contract extension.

Antonio added: “I was playing there for 10 years straight. Every single year, I was a starter for the team. And many times they tried to replace me, get other new people in, and I always ended up playing.

“I started the game before my car crash, and I would have been starting on the Monday, when I had the crash on the Saturday.

“So I was surprised that for someone who’s highly involved and someone who’s been playing for 10 years at the club, that they didn’t offer me something.

“Even though I had interest before my car crash, they said I wasn’t for sale.

“So I was surprised to be released in the summer, and the fact that they waited until May to tell me that they were going to release me as well, was surprising.”

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Blame game

Antonio holds ex-West Ham manager Graham Potter chiefly responsible for his unsavoury exit.

Potter replaced Julen Lopetegui at the London Stadium in January 2025, when Antonio’s future in the game looked bleak.

The former Brighton and Chelsea boss was sacked eight months later after a disastrous stint in charge.

“I think it was a lot (my departure) was down to him [Potter],” Antonio said.

“Obviously he didn’t really know me as a person and as a player, other than when he saw me play [before].

“But I felt like the conversations that I was having with him was like, ‘It’s nothing to do with me, it’s the chairman,’ then the chairman was like, ‘It’s the manager’. I feel like he [Potter] was the one who made the decision in the end.

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“But it wasn’t just me. It was me, Aaron Cresswell, Vladimir Coufal, Lukasz Fabianski, Edson Alvarez. He got rid of a lot of the senior group, the leaders in the changing rooms.

“I felt like he was trying to change things up and go even more young.

“But then it’s a bit of a contradicting factor because he did that and then within three weeks he was saying, ‘We’ve got no leaders in the changing room.’

“Who’s decision was it to get rid of them? It made no sense to me.”