Michail Antonio’s future at West Ham United remains unclear as the club assesses its attacking options.
The arrival of Niclas Fullkrug from Borussia Dortmund has added competition for places up front, potentially limiting Antonio’s playing time. With the veteran striker entering the twilight of his career, a move away from the London Stadium could be on the cards.
Antonio has even admitted that during every window he is linked with a move away from East London, only to still be the Irons’ first choice number nine only a matter of weeks later.
The same could well be true again this season, especially if Fullkrug doesn’t manage to hit the ground running
Ultimately, it will be down to Lopetegui to decide whether or not the 34-year-old still has a part to play in his West Ham team.
While Antonio has been a loyal servant to West Ham, the club may be open to selling him if a suitable offer arrives. Indications are that Danny Ings would be sent on his way if a club could be found to cover his wages – so, much more likely, if either are to leave this summer, that it will be Ings on his way.
But the Hammers’ decision to explore potential replacements for Antonio indicates a desire to refresh their attacking options and build for the future. Recent rumours -in the last couple of days- of attackers being sought on loan deals would seem unlikely to come to fruition: With Fullkrug, Antonio and Bowen as a back up the squad is seen as pretty strong in the front line.
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I think we should retain our loyal servant, Antonio, as a backup striker who can still cause problems for the opposition. Unless we can still get Duran Duran for a reasonable price!
Hope we can keep Antonio, at his age he may well not make the starting 11 but what a fantastic impact sub he could be
Keep Antonio as a bring on sub. For god sack get rid of Ings, he wasnt great when they got him. Aston villa aren’t gonna give us a descent price for Duran, they’d rather he sat on the bench unhappy.
Suggs sang about making love in the afternoon 💕. Football players should be banned from making love before a game
We would get a fee for him this year, not a big fee, but a fee and the removal of his wages. Next year at 35 we won’t. Fee (which would be a profit under PSR) plus the removal of wages would facilitate another loan to buy deal. And some newly promoted team might well grab the bait.
with a full squad and the minimum HG players (assuming AWB actually signs) then we can’t let antonio go without signing another HG in his place
broja loan would be an excellent move, he is training with the u21 along with chalobah
chelsea is practically begging for offers, loan + cheap fee option for both would do our squad a lot of good, would qualify as pearl dives imho
need some HG potential in this squad, if antonio doesn’t go now he will in 12 months along with cresswell and ings
Agreed on getting Broja and Chaloba, specially Chaloba. The man has been treated very unfairly by Chelsea and is a very talented defender. Anyway, I am in favor of keeping Antonio atleast for another season.
Out of anyone I’d be sad to see mikey leave
Keep hold of Antonio. Chuck him on with 20 minutes left if the game isn’t going our way and have him run at defenders. He can’t play 90 minutes every weekend now but can still cause problems and prove useful as an impact sub. After all his years service he deserves to stay with the club.
Agree. Getting shot if Ings is important to get his wages off the books. There is little value in letting Antonio go unless he is spoiling for a move and being disruptive- and I don’t think that’s the case anymore.
One-Bissaka has LANDED! Woohoo.
Hammeroo tells you first! I just read it on the West Ham United website 😁
On our strikers there’s a very good YT video by Four Two Four on Fullkrug and why he works for West Ham. One of the reasons its worth watching is that is shows that he isn’t the player a lot of people thinks he is, and that’s not a bad thing. When you understand how Lopetegui will likely use him it does ask some questions about whether Antonio is the back up to that. As a spoiler to the video Fullkrug isn’t really exceptional in any data area, but he is better in just about all of them than any forward we currently have. If the data does not lie and if Fullkrug stays fit Antonio’s minutes are going to be pretty limited.
lopetegui has lost his job a couple of times due to poor finishing – his sides would dominate possession and chances only for his strikers to fail to convert and lop was out of a job soon after
he doesn’t want to be in that position again
so i completely understand why fullkrug was wanted by lopetegui, hell ings might be leaned on as well if he can rediscover that clinical form
but as you said fullkrug has much more to his game than just finishing, he’s a good fit for the squad
antonio for all his exploits it’s the lack of finishing that scares lopetegui, so i can see us interesting in replacing him if there is money on the table and viable upgrades available
Antonio can be relied on for around 10-15 goals a season, he will be a fantastic impact sub against tired legs, I would be reluctant to let him go, better to let his contract run down and keep him as a reserve, as he himself has mentioned lots of strikers have come and gone and he still remains as first choice, Fullkrug is unproven in the PL and having two strikers is better than one as we have found all too often, the nice change would be having two or three that reliably score different types of goals and have different attributes. Lets be honest for nearly 10 years the only reliable goal scorer has been Antonio and his form has always been in and out.
Antonio USED to be relied on for 10-15 goals a season, except last year it was 6. And that is rather the point.
I think we forget he was a goal scoring right winger when he joined and turned into a good strong frontman if they move bowen about occasionally as they likely will he can still rinse most left backs
I think we forget he was a goal scoring right winger when he joined and turned into a good strong frontman if they move bowen about occasionally as they likely will he can still rinse most left backs
It seems that at the beginning of every season Antonio’s demise is predicted but he has seen off all challengers so far. If he stays fit he can still be effective, especially in cup games against lower league teams. I think Bowen will spend more time up front leaving Kudus on the right.
How many cup games against lower league teams are you expecting? Three perhaps? He earns what, seventy thousand a week and we might get a five million pound fee if we sold him now. So, roughly you’ll give up eight and a half million over the next twelve months so that he can bang a few goals in early cup rounds? That’s not how the Project works.
Where did I say he would only appear in cup games? Every season we have a shiny new striker who fails so how do we know Fullkrug will do any better than the others. If Antonio is sold and Fullkrug fails are you willing to only rely on Ings?
Did I say I was prepared to rely on Ings? Sell Antonio, if you can find a buyer, for say five million. Get Villa to loan Duran to us for a season, five million fee, with a thirty-five million purchase option the following year. The same economics as keeping Antonio this year. Or find some other young striker (say around twenty million) and purchase this window. Antonio’s stats have fallen off a cliff last year and now (like Zouma) we are managing him because of injury concerns. The idea that we can’t let Antonio go because new strikers always fail at West Ham doesn’t work, or are you planning to extend him next year?
As you said IF we can find a buyer who would pay 5 million and pay his wages. As he has not asked for a transfer we would have to deduct his loyalty bonus from the 5 million plus possibly subsidise his wages, leaving us with hardly anything. Then we have to sign a young Premiership quality striker that every other Premiership team has missed. All in a couple of weeks. There seems a lot of hype over Duran but would Villa really be prepared to sell him if he is that great considering they have additional Champions League fixtures and not a lot of time to source a replacement.
You forget that it mights suit him to move on. Pretty clear we will not renew. If he got a move it’s not unlikely he would get at least a two year contract. Even another year contract at his age is important. As for his loyalty bonus being five million I doubt that, but who knows. And will we need to pay that loyalty bonus at the end of the season? If Villa wanted to keep Duran then why the protracted discussions with West Ham and again remember they will show a healthy PSR profit on him.
The days of David Moyes’s favoured starting XI are over. It’s squad rotation from now on. Antonio should be used more often than as an impact sub, as gives Julen another tactical option,
With both Antonio and Ings having entered the last year of their contracts it matters not to us if they move on now or on 30th June. Unless Tim signs another striker by deadline hour, then either of them could leave.
It crossed my mind that Duran could still join us from Aston Villa, but after the two teams have played each other on Saturday.
Antonio won’t want to play second fiddle, he’s already alluded to it and tbh at this stage of his career I can understand why he wants to play for the next couple of seasons before he retires.
Of the two, Antonio is a more sellable asset than Ings. I suspect WH want at least one of them gone, if not both so they can get in another striker possible someone younger with potential.
I’ve seen reports that awb has signed, that’s great but we still need another CD, and back up striker a left back and another midfielder to make us a real unit and threat to the so called big 6, although after our business it’s definitely a case of the big 7. Pay off zouma, and tout mavropanus, ings and aguerd for sale urgently, ings is only with us for the money and he has nothing to offer judged by what we have seen of him thus far. Their has to be lesser clubs who would happy to have any of them and they would get game time which they won’t with us
As other comments have said for me Antonio would be a great impact to have and cover for an untested striker in the Premier. We have had some disappointing striker purchases over the last few years not because they were bad players but they did not fit the Moyes system. Do you think any of them would have fitted in the J Lo system?
Most people here are talking about Antonio being on the bench but I see him starting on Saturday and when our German forward gets his chance if he doesn’t deliver then I expect Antonio to start even more games