West Ham ace Michail Antonio out of Jamaica squad due to ‘cost-cutting’ measures
Michail Antonio will not leave West Ham for North America this week as he has not been called up to the Jamaican national team for their World Cup qualifiers.
The 31-year-old was expected to be one of the first names on manager Paul Hall’s squad list but when the squad was announced, he was nowhere to be seen.
His form for the Irons was initially highlighted as a potential reason but Voice Online believe that there might be a more worrying reason for his omission to do with the budget Jamaica are operating under.
“His choice of players could let him down, and it would not be a surprise if his original selection was trimmed by the JFF as a cost-cutting exercise,” Voice Online said.
Rangers striker Kemar Roofe and Brentford defender Ethan Pinnock are other notable absentees but Leon Bailey (Aston Villa) and Andre Gray (QPR) have both received a call-up.
Lost their mind
Ok, we admit it, Antonio is far from his best at the moment and if he were from a nation where the competition for places was fierce then his omission from the squad would be easier to take.
But Jamaica is not blessed with endless footballing talent by any stretch of the imagination and someone as good as Antonio is surely one of their star players.
The fact that a good proportion of the 24-man squad comes from Jamaican clubs or academies suggests that there might be some truth to Voice Online’s claims which is just absurd.
It isn’t even like they have some meaningless friendlies to play either, these are World Cup qualifiers and two of the games are very winnable against El Salvador and Honduras.
They may not be able to qualify for Qatar but that shouldn’t see them give up all hope of getting a good result or two this week but they look dead certain on achieving that by leaving Antonio at home.
Better for West Ham at least as he can finally get that well-deserved break before the end-of-season run-in begins in April.
In other West Ham news, David Moyes has been impressed by this EFL goalkeeper and wants to sign him in the summer.
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