Michail Antonio

Antonio was born in Wandsworth, Greater London.[3] He started his career at Tooting & Mitcham United Juniors at the age of 12 and remained there for six seasons. The Juniors' team was independent from Tooting & Mitcham United, whom he signed for at the age of 17 years. He made his debut for the club in an away match against Wealdstone at the age of 18, scoring once in a 3–0 victory.[4]

After just a handful of first-team appearances for Tooting & Mitcham United, Antonio signed for Championship club Reading on 28 October 2008 for an undisclosed fee, signing a deal until 2010.[5][6][7] He rejoined Tooting on a month-long loan spell on 9 January 2009,[8] with the loan extended for a further month on 11 February[9] but he returned to Reading less than a week later on 17 February after being recalled by the club.[10]

Following his loan spell with Southampton in the summer of 2010, Antonio signed a fresh deal to keep him at Reading until 2013.[11] He featured more regularly in the squad during the 2010–11 season, scoring one goal, against Burnley,[12] in 24 appearances in all competitions.[13]

After being recalled from Tooting, Antonio was subsequently loaned out to League One club Cheltenham Town on a month's loan, commencing on 19 February.[14]

He made his Football League debut in a 2–0 defeat to Leeds United on 21 February,[15] being substituted on 28 minutes after suffering from an ankle injury.[16] After spending some time out injured, Antonio would go on to make eight further appearances until the end of the season with Cheltenham.[17]

Southampton signed Antonio on loan for one month on 5 October 2009,[18] making his debut on 9 October in a 3–1 away win at Southend United.[19] He scored his first goal for Southampton in the FA Cup victory over Bristol Rovers on 6 November.[20] The loan was subsequently extended until the end of the season.[21]

He scored in the first leg of the Football League Trophy area final against Milton Keynes Dons, with the match finishing 1–0. He also scored in his next appearance, a 2–1 victory over Ipswich Town in the FA Cup. He scored again in the 4–1 2010 Football League Trophy Final win over Carlisle United at Wembley Stadium on 28 March 2010, which was his 20th birthday, bringing Antonio his first silverware.[22]

Antonio's loan deal finished at the end of the 2009–10 season, but both manager Alan Pardew and Antonio himself expressed a desire for the winger to remain at Southampton.[23]

Colchester United was the next destination for Antonio, where he signed on a one-month loan on 15 August 2011.[24] He made his debut for the club the following day in a 2–0 home defeat to Charlton Athletic.[25] He scored his first goal for the club to put the U's 2–1 ahead as they eventually lost in a 3–2 defeat to Huddersfield Town on 20 August.[26] His loan spell with the club was extended for another month in September[27] and then for a further month in October.[28] In total, Antonio scored four goals in 15 league outings for Colchester.[29]

On 21 February 2012, Sheffield Wednesday signed Antonio on an emergency loan deal until the end of the season.[30] His debut for the Owls came in a 1–0 victory over local rivals, Sheffield United on 26 February.[31] In his next appearance, a 4–1 win against Bury, he scored two and set up another for forward Ryan Lowe. In the following match, against Bournemouth, Antonio set up the opener and scored Wednesday's third in the opening ten minutes.[32] Against Carlisle United at Hillsborough, he scored a 95th-minute winner to beat them and put Sheffield Wednesday only one point behind local rivals United, who were in second place. He helped the Owls to promotion on the final day of the season by scoring the first in a 2–0 victory over already relegated Wycombe Wanderers, which led Wednesday to finish above Steel city rivals Sheffield United.[33]

Antonio signed on a permanent basis for Sheffield Wednesday on 6 August 2012 on a four-year deal after a third and final bid for the player was accepted by Reading.[34] In his first season with the club, Antonio had been leading the scoring charts with nine goals, but an injury suffered in a 2–0 defeat by Cardiff City on 16 March 2013 ruled him out for the rest of the season.[35]

On 6 August 2014, Antonio signed a three-year contract with Nottingham Forest for a transfer fee in the region of £1.5 million.[36][37]

Antonio's strong form in Forest's first five league matches of the season, in which he contributed three goals and three assists, led to him being named as a candidate for the Championship's Player of the Month award for August.[38] Antonio lost out on the award to Charlton's Igor Vetokele.[39] Antonio started every league match for Forest during his first season with the club, scoring 14 goals, and was named Forest's Player of the Season on 4 May 2015.[40]

On 11 August 2015, Antonio scored a brace in a 3–4 loss to League One club Walsall in the first round of the League Cup.[41] On 15 August, the winger scored the winner in a 2–1 victory at home to Rotherham to open his tally for the new season.[42]

Having already rejected a bid of £4 million from West Bromwich Albion for the transfer of Antonio earlier that summer, Forest received a second bid of £4 million from arch-rivals Derby County. Consequently, Antonio was left out of Forest's Championship match against Charlton Athletic on 19 August 2015, with his manager Dougie Freedman citing that the winger was not "in the right frame of mind" to play. However, Antonio returned for the next league match at Bolton Wanderers.[43] On 26 August, West Ham United joined the bidding for Antonio, offering Forest £4 million and winger Matt Jarvis on a season-long loan.[44]

Antonio playing for West Ham United in 2019

On 1 September 2015, Antonio signed for Premier League club West Ham United for around £7 million on a four-year contract with an option for a further two years.[45] He made his debut on 19 September, replacing Victor Moses in the 60th minute of West Ham's 2–1 Premier League win at Manchester City.[46] In a Man of the match performance on 28 December 2015 in a 2–1 win, Antonio scored his first goal for West Ham. With the team losing 1–0 to Southampton, Antonio equalised when a clearance hit him and looped over Southampton goalkeeper, Maarten Stekelenburg.[47]

On 27 February, Antonio scored the only goal in a home win over Sunderland. He celebrated by lying on his side and spinning in a circle, imitating a celebration by The Simpsons character Homer Simpson in the episode "Last Exit to Springfield".[48] In his next appearance, Antonio turned-in a Man of the match performance, scoring the only goal in a home win against Tottenham Hotspur.[49] He followed this with another goal in a 3–2 away win at Everton three days later as West Ham came from two goals down.[50] In July 2016, Antonio signed a new, four-year contract with West Ham.[51]

Antonio started West Ham's first match of the 2016–17 season in the right-back position, subsequently giving away a penalty in the early stages of the second half, which was converted by Eden Hazard, to give Chelsea a 1–0 lead. He was substituted not long after for Sam Byram. Chelsea went on to win 2–1.[52] In the second match of the season, on 21 August 2016, Antonio returned to his favourite position of Winger. He scored the only goal of the match, from a cross by Gökhan Töre, in a 1–0 win against Bournemouth; West Ham's first Premier League match and goal at their new ground, the London Stadium.[53] In April 2017, having scored nine goals for West Ham, Antonio was ruled out for the remainder of the season with what was described by manager, Slaven Bilic, as a "significant injury".[54] For his performances during the 2016–17 season, Antonio was named Hammer of the Year.[55] On 11 May 2017, West Ham announced that Antonio had signed a new, four-year contract.[56]

Antonio scored the first goal by a visiting player at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, on 27 April 2019, as West Ham won 1–0, becoming the first away team to win at the stadium.[57]

On 11 July 2020, Antonio scored all four goals in a 4–0 win for West Ham over Norwich City, becoming the first player in West Ham's history to score four goals in a single Premier League game and the first West Ham player to score four goals in a game since David Cross against Tottenham in September 1981.[58][59]

On 22 July 2020, Antonio scored his 10th Premier League goal of the season, his best return in the top division of English football, in West Ham's 1–1 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford. The result also secured West Ham's place in the Premier League for the following season.[60] In December 2020, Antonio signed a new, three-year contract committing himself to the club until 2023.[61]