Antonio Needs To Put A Lid On It!

During a time of 'delicate' negotiations regarding the on off transfer of Marko Arnoutovic, West Ham United's director of football Mario Husillos and co-owner David Sullivan, who act alongside Manuel Pellegrini, will have been less than pleased with Michail Antonio's "‘everyone knows" Marko wants to leave comments recently made to Sky TV.

Antonio, who has only recently begun to show the sort of form again that made him a fans favourite following some indifferent performances and a series of niggly injuries, said "Players come and go, we are used to it. Obviously I'd rather he stayed, he's a talisman for the club. "Replacing him would be a difficult situation. He has experience of playing, he scores goals and right now who could we sign to replace him? That's where the problem lies. We would definitely need to sign someone too."

Who on earth at the club sanctioned Antonio's 'interview'? The last thing required while negotiating complex business arrangements, and yes Premier League football is most definitely a business, is for the opposite side to know your hand, in one swift movement Michail superseded the comments that Manuel Pellgrini had scripted for his mandatory Thursday press call!

At the end of the day Pellegrini emerged with dignity and strength by saying Arnie can go, when and if Pelle says so, but someone needs to tell Antonio and the rest of the squad to keep shtum about sensitive issues and if in doubt, play dumb, something that shouldn't be too difficult for a lot of players. - Ed

Comments

If he did so, he shouldn't

If he did so, he shouldn't have spoken ahead of Pellegrinis say but I would rather hear honest report from the players then all the cloak and dagger crap and rumour circus like we experienced with Payet. Look at Arnie situation compared to Payet, slightly different circumstances but who can say they actually hate Arnie for wanting to leave? He's been up front about about it, fair enough let him go. I think it shows the positivity around the club at the moment - theres a good team morale and the players know they can lose Arnie and have faith that Pelle will handle the situation and the Daves will get someone to replace him

I for one found Antonios

I for one found Antonios honesty somewhat refreshing,it wasn't as though he said anything that we didn't already know.Arnie has got to go now,sooner the better,the situation is creating a black cloud over the club,we have had enough of them,something we could do with out as we are doing well,and have shown we can play without him.Lets get players that want to play in a West Han shirt,and give us some years of dedication,they are still out there,look at Spurs,Erikson,Ali,Kane and the like.

a bit

like brexit get it done and dusted

Antonio was naive to make the

Antonio was naive to make the comments. All it did was embarrass the club and inflamed the situation further. It's just the way of the world these days you cant speak for other players. Wheelchair was a pundit that day and offered no input whenever Arnie was discussed. Maybe Antonio wants him gone, maybe the Dressing Room is a bit toxic - who knows...?

Arnie out of the Squad

Arnie is out of the squad for Bournemouth and u know what I don't think it will worry Pellegrini to much, when I watched him against Arsenal he looked very frustrated player throwing his arms all over the place and he reckons he is gutted to gutted to play tomorrow. We might be better off without him, I don't like the way this is shaping up because if he doesn't go to China on his 250,000 a week I can see him throwing a strop and another Payet situation.
I was hoping that he would play tomorrow and prove a point that he wants to play and score goals no matter who he plays for showing Shanghai that he is worth his 50 mill but it looks to me behind the scenes that he is trying to force WHU to let him go for 35 mill. Our board won't let him go for that, especially as they have got to give stoke 7 million so it could be a standoff with Arnie and his brother, and another worrying factor is the Chinese transfer window doesn't shut till the end of February

Agree cast iron

I also was hoping he would be professional & play tomorrow even though the China deal is on the back burner allegedly.But no,now we hear his head isnt right!!ffs what is the matter with these players,looks like another payet situation,only at westham eh!!

Arnie

After hearing about his injuries in the summer , and the way we played without him in December I say if he is going ,it makes a change to get the right money for a change

I just hope this is sorted soon

I would hate to see it drag out till after the end off January and then have him go with no chance to replace him. If this should happen then it would mean more game time for Carroll, Chicherito and hopefully Silva and we have some other youngsters who might step up but don't leave it to long.