Premier League side West Ham United have officially signed 25-year-old English winger Michail Antonio from Championship side Nottingham Forest. The English winger will wear jersey number 30 at the London club.
Both West Ham United and Nottingham Forest confirmed the deal on twitter. Their tweets read:
BREAKING: We are delighted to announce the signing of @Michailantonio from @Official_NFFC! http://t.co/vjeWc1JLEx pic.twitter.com/a1pEmGXsuZ
— West Ham United FC (@whufc_official) September 1, 2015
#NFFC‘s Michail Antonio has signed for West Ham United. http://t.co/2L0j02D2ia pic.twitter.com/yX3qhdV3zv
— Nottingham Forest FC (@Official_NFFC) September 1, 2015
Here are some of the images of the winger after he was unveiled at the club:
After joining the club, the player sounded ecstatic as he spoke to the club’s official website. He said: “I’m buzzing and finally happy to be back in London at a massive club. I’ve always been around London and I came to a couple of games here when I was younger, so I’m happy to be finally here and at a club I watched when I was younger.
“I’ve worked my way from non-league and finally got to the Premier League to show what I can do, and if the fans don’t know me from the Championship, what I bring to the table is pace, power and goals, so hopefully I can do that this season.
“I can’t wait for the challenge of playing in the Premier League. It was one of the things growing up, where I wanted to be, testing myself against the best competition and, seeing West Ham’s result of winning 3-0 at Anfield, it shows I’m coming to a great team that’s established in the Premier League. Hopefully, I can put my mark down here at the club.”
Antonio enjoyed a brilliant start to his career as a teenager with non-league Tooting & Mitcham United, earning him a move to Reading.
The player then spent three seasons with the Royals, totalling 33 appearances and also being loaned to League One quartet Cheltenham Town, Southampton, Colchester United and Sheffield Wednesday.
At Southampton, Antonio started under the management of former West Ham boss Alan Pardew, scoring the final goal in the Saints’ 2010 Football League Trophy final victory over Carlisle United at Wembley Stadium.
In August 2014, Antonio moved to Nottingham Forest, where he made a fantastic start to life at the City Ground, contributing three goals and three assists to be nominated for the Championship Player of the Month award within weeks of joining.
At the end of an outstanding season for the Reds, Antonio had scored 15 goals and assisted on 14 more occasions, earning widespread plaudits for his exceptional play.