Greg . 2 days ago

Why West Ham's signing of Callum Wilson to substitute Michail Antonio is a backwards step

Mention the name of Michail Antonio to West Ham supporters and you're bound to get an effusive response.

Acquired for just £7.

5m from Nottingham Forest back in 2015, the robust centre-forward has gone on to become a cult hero at the London Stadium.

His mixture of goals, effort and no-nonsense attitude is what Irons fans expect from their heroes, and Antonio has it all in droves.

Not through luck has he become West Ham's record Premier League goalscorer with 68 goals, and even if Jarrod Bowen overtakes that this season or next - the Hammers captain is currently on 56 and counting - Antonio will always have a special place in the hearts of those of a claret and blue persuasion.

Although his best Premier League return for the East London outfit in terms of goals has only been 10 - in each of the 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons - there's a degree of consistency there.

Broken leg hasn't ended Antonio's careerHis six goals in 26 English top-flight games in 2023/24 wasn't the best but a knee injury that saw him miss 18 games arguably didn't help.

Who's to say that he wouldn't have fared even better at the London Stadium if he hadn't had 17 separate injuries during his time there?By far the worst of the lot was the broken leg he sustained after an awful car crash in December 2024.

"My leg was completely shattered and they got me out and put a splint on it by the side of the car," he said in a recent interview.

"It just made me realise how close I was to dying.

The car was an absolute mess.

"No one would've been in the least bit surprised had the 35-year-old hung up his boots there and then; however, and much to his credit, Antonio intends to battle on.

Pay-as-you-play deal not good enoughWest Ham had nursed him through the recovery period post-op, and there were reasons to believe that they'd offer the striker a new contract.

A pay-as-you-play deal was put on the table, but that wasn't enough for him.

After 10 years of happiness, it would seem that Antonio has taken that offer as an insult after he said: "Why should a player be loyal to a club? We are meat to them.

As soon as we start going stale, it’s time to sell or throw away.

 "Before, if a player was at a club for a few years, you see the human side of that player – now it’s all about money, and how much money can they make for the club.

"That’s where it’s got to, so if a club is going to think about the money side of things, why shouldn’t a player?”Injury proneWith a parting of the ways now official, supporters will surely have been rubbing their hands at the prospect of a younger and more able forward being acquired in place, particularly as only El Hadji Malick Diouf, Mads Hermansen and Kyle Walker-Peters had been acquired this summer.

For Graham Potter to then go out and effectively substitute Antonio with a like-for-like striker in Callum Wilson is only understandable if he'd been about 10 years younger.

A podcast partner and good friend of the man he's taking the place of, Wilson is just a couple of years younger at 33 and has an even worse recent injury record.

In the last two seasons alone, he's missed 57 games with three separate hamstring injuries, a back injury, a chest injury, a calf problem and an illness, and he's only scored nine Premier League goals in the last two seasons.

Callum Wilson Radar Graphic - Premier League 2024/25Opta by Stats PerformEven if one takes the view that Niclas Fullkrug will be Potter's man of choice in the centre-forward role, can he be comfortable in the knowledge that Wilson is the alternative should the former succumb to his own injury concerns or not show the form from earlier in his career?It's another signing by the club that would seem to smack of short-termism, and as Antonio eloquently espouses, in football today it's all about the money, so perhaps that's something that can be read into this unexpected transfer.

Callum Wilson is polar opposite to what Graham Potter wantedA free transfer option for a player who gets the odd goal here and there is clearly preferable to West Ham than bringing in young, dynamic and hungry players.

 Wilson is the exact opposite to the type of player that Potter himself suggested he enjoyed coaching when taking up the offer to join the Hammers.

 In Fullkrug and the former Newcastle man, the club do at least have two physical target men, but there's every opportunity that this is a signing which could blow up in West Ham's faces.

Jason PettigroveBetopick