West Ham United star Michail Antonio sets up new academy after eight-month process
Michail Antonio has had to come from a working-class background to play for West Ham United and he wants to make an impact to the youth of today.
The Jamaican international has set up a new academy which is designed to help 16-19-year-olds combine their footballing aspirations with traditional education in South East London.
He does have plans to expand to other areas of the UK in the future but Nathan Scarlet-Bryant, a friend of the 31-year-old who is helping in the project, knows it will take time.
“It’s long-term. Michail wants to expand and play in other locations,” he said to the Express. “We also want to expand it into the women’s game.
“That’s something we’re looking to do in the next year or so. We also want to look at doing pre-academy ages, so for seven and eight-year-olds.
“It’s taken about eight months to put into place. We sat down around October last year and we were just putting ideas across. We talked about what collaborations we could have and how we could empower the youth.
“It came from there, we had a meeting. We sorted out what we could do and ways that he could help. He wants to be involved in the academy not just have it under his name.
“He’ll come down when possible and take part in sessions. He’s given us all the resources that we could possibly need.”
Model citizen
How can you not love this man?
We have always known that Antonio is a fabulous person as well as a sensational attacker but it takes a lot to go from that to actually trying to make a difference like this.
West Ham should be keeping a very close eye on the progress of Antonio’s academy and the players within because they could even get first dibs on the best talents if they twist his arm enough.
Not enough is done with young footballers to educate them about the outside world and it often leads to dark days for those who get released.
They are never prepared for “real life” and hopefully this new academy will help some of those make the transition from the bubble of football to the open world.
David Moyes could make far worse decisions than to give Antonio the armband next season after the retirement o Mark Noble but it looks likely to be Declan Rice instead if he stays.
In other West Ham news. a Brazilian left-back has piqued the interest of the Hammers but his club don’t want to lose him in the middle of their season.
Be sure to follow West Ham Zone on Facebook for 24/7 updates on the Hammers plus more exclusive interviews with Frank McAvennie.