David Moyes is concerned about international duty affecting Michail Antonio’s West Ham form
West Ham manager David Moyes is worried about how the long-haul travel Michail Antonio goes through on international duty is affecting his form.
The 31-year-old has made six appearances for Jamaica since securing a passport and making his international debut at the end of last year, and the Scot worries the new experience is taking its toll.
His Hammers form has dropped off in recent months after a strong start, with Jarrod Bowen overtaking him as the club’s leading scorer this season.
Antonio has scored nine times so far this year but only two of those have come since he was called up to play for his national team in November.
The Irons boss has said, via the Independent: “He has been away a couple of times and I’ve had concerns about it because it’s new to him, it’s not something he’s been doing since he was 21 or 22.
“Obviously if you go to Jamaica, Costa Rica, it’s long journeys but I’ll never stop anybody who wants to play for their chosen country.
“As an international player he has always got a chance of going away but the only game we have missed without him was this one [Kidderminster] and when we left on Friday Mic hadn’t turned up at the training ground yet.
“He got back late, he trained on Saturday and we need to get him back in there.”
Air miles
It is an age old tug of war in football between club and country managers over the priorities of the players they both utilise.
As Moyes says, he cannot stand in his forward’s way and prevent him from experiencing international football for his country.
He may have a point that the Jamaican has not developed through his career with regular experience of travelling long-distance and managing his body along with it.
Having harboured hopes of playing for England for many years, and being very unlucky to be overlooked, Antonio only added international football to his calendar in his 30s, at an age when some players retire from their country to prolong their club careers.
But having waited so long it is hard to begrudge a very likeable player making it onto the international scene.
It could be argued that if the manager is that concerned about it he could have signed a striker in the January transfer window, as Antonio is the lone central forward at the club and has been since Sebastien Haller left.
Overwork domestically could be taking as much toll as the travel.
In other West Ham news, this former Liverpool man says Hammers star “has to” leave the club.