West Ham's Michail Antonio admits Sam Allardyce has taken risk with England call-up
Michail Antonio today admitted England manager Sam Allardyce has taken a risk by calling him into his first international squad but vowed to prove his doubters wrong.
The 26-year-old was a surprise inclusion in Allardyce’s 23-man selection for Sunday’s opening 2018 World Cup qualifier in Slovakia having only played 29 Premier League games since joining West Ham from Nottingham Forest for £7million in September 2015.
Antonio began his career at non-League Tooting & Mitcham in 2007 and joined Reading a year later but his career stalled at the Madejski Stadium, triggering a series of loan spells at Cheltenham, Southampton, Colchester and Sheffield Wednesday.
The midfielder continued to pursue a career at the highest level and even turned down an approach from Jamaica in March in the belief he would one day represent England, having been born in Wandsworth in 1990.
And he said: “To pick someone like me from my background, it is a risk but the gaffer has shown belief in me and now I have got to show it to the world. One thing I have always believed in is to never give up.
“Always have belief in yourself that you can achieve things. Anything is possible in life. Once I reach one target, I always search for another and I went from non-League to Reading.
“I kept going out on loan because I wasn’t getting much time at Reading. Then I went to Sheffield Wednesday and then Nottingham Forest and I managed to get to West Ham, where I always wanted to be — the Premier League.
“Then I said to myself, ‘Become an international’. Now I’ve done that, I’ve got to set myself a new target now.”
'I’ve worked my way from non-league to where I am now, I am just so happy'
— Standard Sport (@standardsport) August 28, 2016
Top work, @Michailantonio! #WHUFC⚒ pic.twitter.com/rzwuTmZiCg
Antonio only learned of his call-up after speaking to one of West Ham’s medical staff in the wake of Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Manchester City, where he scored the visitors’ only goal.
“It has been very emotional, especially when I found out [I was in the squad],” he said. “It has always been a boyhood dream to play for England and the opportunity now by being called up is breathtaking.
“I did an interview at the end of the game and I came in and the physio went over to me and said, ‘You’ve been called up.’ I said, ‘Ha, funny’. He said, ‘No, seriously.’ I said, ‘Good banter’ but I looked at him for a good 30 seconds and he looked at me.
“I wasn’t sure I could take him seriously but he showed me a piece of paper [confirming the call-up] and after that I started welling up inside. All I wanted to do was call my missus. Obviously she didn’t pick up…”
After joining up with the squad, Antonio told FATV: “I walked up to the gaffer and thanked him. He said there was no need to because I had worked hard. He told me to now see if I could do it as an international player.”
Michail Antonio's journey from non-league to West Ham and EnglandMichail AntonioWest HamSam AllardyceEngland Football Team