OPINION
Michail Antonio must realise that West Ham have options when it comes to getting rid of him and this should see him get back to his best next season.
Guardian reported on Friday that Crystal Palace were looking to act quickly to get their transfer business done early and that Roy Hodgson had the 28-year-old winger in his sights.
The newspaper claimed that Palace feared Antonio might be out of their price range, but the winger should be aware, if the Hammers want rid that won’t hesitate to drop him off at Selhurst Park.
Especially as Antonio earns £70,000-a-week, as reported by the Daily Mail, and didn’t exactly earn his pay cheques last season.
The winger, who can also play up front or even as a full-back, experienced a terrible campaign during the recently concluded season.
Aside from struggling to feature due to constant injuries, Antonio was often not at the races in the 21 appearances he made.
The versatile footballer only contributed three goals and one assist, while also making a careless error against Crystal Palace in October, which effectively stopped his side winning the game.
While his injury issues are clearly unavoidable, even when fit he needs to start proving his worth to the club as his performances when available haven’t been good enough for a while.
In the 2015/16 season, Antonio bordered on being a revelation in the first-team, putting in stellar performances and his efforts were rewarded as he scored eight goals, while creating four in 26 appearances.
This form translated into the early stages of the 2016/17 campaign, yet since then, the 28-year-old has been unable to consistently deliver the goods.
Therefore with Palace in pursuit, there should be alarm bells ringing in Antonio’s head as while the club may ignore their interest in the upcoming summer, it might not be same scenario in January.
This means that Palace’s reported interest should act as the winger’s final wake-up call in order for him to get himself back firing on all cylinders for the Hammers or Antonio should be ready to move on.
