Michail Antonio

Michail  Antonio is a footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club West Ham United and the Jamaica national team.

Antonio started his football career at non-league club Tooting & Mitcham United before moving to Reading Football Club in the Championship in 2008. The club sent him on subsequent loan spells to Cheltenham Town, back to Tooting & Mitcham, Southampton, and Colchester United, as he struggled to find a place in Reading's first team throughout his four-year stay at the Madejski. A final loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday resulted in a permanent move in 2012, where he went on to make 64 appearances and score 12 goals.

Nottingham Forest signed him from Wednesday in 2014, where his 16 goals in 50 appearances attracted attention from West Ham United of the Premier League, who signed him in 2015, where he was deployed in a number of positions which includes right back, right midfielder, and as a winger, before he eventually established himself as the club's main striker. On 23 August 2021, he became West Ham United's all-time top scorer in the Premier League.

In March 2016, Antonio said that he had rejected the opportunity to play for jamaica internationally and that he have the ambition to play for England. On 28 August 2016, the new England manager Sam Allardyce's call up Antonio for the first time into the first squad team, for a 2018 World Cup qualification match against Slovakia in Slovakia on 4 September 2016 where he was an unused substitute.

 Antonio was called up by Gareth Southgate the new England manager into the squad for the friendly match against Germany on 22 March and the 2018 World Cup qualifier against Lithuania on 26 March; however, on 20 March, Antonio withdrew from the squad when he picks up a hamstring injury.

In February 2021, Antonio was once again approached by jamaica to consider playing for them at the international level. He was said to be passionate about playing and helping them reach the 2022 World Cup. In March 2021, Antonio was reported to be in the process of obtaining his Jamaica passport. On 17 March 2021, it was reported that Antonio had made up his mind that he was going to represent Jamaica internationally, ahead of the squad being announced for an upcoming international friendly against the United States. Despite this, Antonio was not included in the 19-man squad when this was announced on 17 March. 

On 18 June 2021, Antonio was included in Jamaica's 60-man provisional squad for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Antonio missed out on the final 23-man squad, by virtue of not having secured his Jamaican passport in time. In August 2021, it was reported that Antonio had received his passport, making him eligible to play for the country. He debuted with Jamaica in a 3–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification loss to Panama on 5 September 2021. 

His debut lasted 70 minutes. He spent much of the game isolated with little service from his team on what was described as a hard and dry pitch. Antonio scored his first goal for Jamaica in his second international appearance. In a World Cup qualifying game against El Salvador on 13 November, Antonio scored the opening goal before Alex Roldan equalised for El Salvador as the game finished 1–1.