OPINION
West Ham winger Michail Antonio will still be walking on egg shells in the 2018/19 campaign despite Manuel Pellegrini reportedly opting to back him by not parting company with his services this summer.
The 28-year-old was thought to be on the club’s chopping block and have a £15million price tag slapped on his head (Source: Sky Sports),but the latest report on his future suggests he is going nowhere.
Claret & Hugh stated on Wednesday that Antonio was set to stay put at the London Stadium as Pellegrini had put him on a list of players that he wanted to keep and saw him as an important player.
While it’s exciting that Antonio isn’t set to depart the Hammers anytime soon as he has previously dazzled for the club, he no doubt will still be facing an exit if he doesn’t repay Pellegrini’s faith quickly.
The 28-year-old winger’s career has been hampered in recent campaigns due to finding himself stuck on the sidelines due to injury.
Antonio’s issues regarding his hamstring, as shown by his Transfermarkt, has a tendency to resurface every so often and Pellegrini will quickly lose patience regarding a player he can’t use.
While the winger can’t really control his ability to stay fully fit, he has to make the most of his minutes when he plays in order to be seen as worthy of being kept as Pellegrini could change his mind about him by the time January comes around.
Antonio is on a bumper pay-packet, £70,000-a-week (Source: Claret & Hugh), and needs to work harder than most of his teammates to therefore justify his salary if he is going to continue to be susceptible to injuries.
The 28-year-old may be valuable to Pellegrini due to his versatility but he will still be a valuable luxury for his squad if he doesn’t rack up the assists or goals.
This all means that while Antonio has his manager’s backing for at least the first half of the season, he can’t be resting on his laurels as he is still due to be walking on egg shells for the foreseeable future until he delivers the goods under Pellegrini.
