OPINION
West Ham must laugh all the way to the bank if Crystal Palace opt to bid £12million for attacker Michail Antonio anytime soon.
Dedicated Hammers website Claret & Hugh reported that Palace could tempt the Hammers’ resolve over holding onto the winger by offering somewhere in the region of £12million to sign him.
While the report states that Manuel Pellegrini would prefer to keep his squad together, the Hammers can’t reject an offer in that region for Antonio if it emerges.
The 28-year-old is on a whopping £70,000-a-week at the London Stadium (Source: Spotrac) and his exit would definitely make notable room on the wage bill if he was to depart.
Antonio doesn’t really justify his big wage especially this season as he has struggled in nearly all of his outings.
The 28-year-old has played ten times in the Premier League so far in the current campaign and it’s fair to say that he looks like a shadow of the player who previously excited fans at the club.
Antonio has been wasteful in possession, hasn’t utilise his pace anywhere near enough and his finishing has been so wide of the mark you’d back him to hit the corner flag not the back of the net.
Given this form and the fact his injury record is an awful read as he has been regularly sidelined in recent seasons, then getting £12million for him would be extremely good business.
While Premier League players come with inflated prices tags, when you consider that Antonio’s injury record should cause teams to at least hesitant over investing £10million in him, then it’s a very generous potential offer.
Therefore the Hammers must laugh all the way to the bank if Palace do end up submitting a bid in the region of £12million as they would be foolish to turn it down to keep Antonio on their books.