Michail Antonio deserves much better as Middle East transfer set for ex-West Ham man
Michail Antonio looks set to join Qatari side Al-Sailiya nearly eight months on from leaving West Ham.
Antonio‘s career was turned upside down when he suffered a broken leg in a horrific car accident in December 2024.
The then-West Ham striker returned to action for Jamaica last June but it was not enough to secure a contract renewal at London Stadium.
The 35-year-old has since been close to securing moves to Leicester City and Charlton Athletic in the Championship but according to West Ham Football via X, Antonio will head to the Middle East for the rest of the season.
Antonio, who has acted as a TNT Sports pundit this term, will finally be back playing football at long last. But does the veteran deserve better?
Championship interest falls through for Michail Antonio
The tweet adds that Antonio will play just six games for Al-Sailiya as their season only runs until April.
Antonio, who spent 10 years at West Ham and scored 83 goals in 323 appearances, trained with Leicester City at the back end of last year but that deal fell through due to a reported muscle injury in January.
Fellow second-tier side Charlton Athletic are said to have held talks with the former Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday player but that came to nothing.
Now, he seems set to head off to Doha and the Qatar Stars League, the country’s top-flight.
Former Aston Villa winger Anwar El Ghazi also plays for Al-Sailiya, so there will be some friendly faces for the striker.
Will this be Antonio’s final hurrah or is this part of a plan to extend his career a little longer?
Is Antonio making the right call?
On the face of it, a player of Antonio’s calibre deserves better than the Qatari league.
A man who was called up to England squads, before switching allegiance to Jamaica, and scored 10 Premier League goals for three seasons in a row surely has enough to give at a Championship side?
The Leicester move seemed like a good fit but injury put pay to that switch. Charlton are in a relegation fight in the English second-tier and Antonio ultimately said no to the Addicks.
This is, arguably, surprising as they are in London, which is where he lives, and he could have helped them stay in the division.
But, it was not to be. Incidentally, Portsmouth boss John Mousinho also considered signing the Jamaica international but that too has not come to pass.
With all this Championship interest, it seems strange that he is off to Qatar – where footballing standards are much lower.
Antonio’s physicality and proven Premier League quality suggests that he has earned himself a shot at a Championship switch but perhaps the shocking injury he suffered has taken its toll.
The main thing for him is that he is set to be back playing for the first time in over a year. Football fans should be happy that Antonio has this opportunity.
But it must be said that the Wandsworth-born footballer should be playing a better calibre of club in 2026.
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