Michail Antonio: West Ham striker insists he will play again after receiving 'another chance at life' | OneFootball

Antonio has delivered an update on his recovery after sustaining a broken leg in a car accident late last year

Michail Antonio insists he is “100 per cent” certain he will play again, following the December car crash where he was “close to dying” but then received “another chance at life”.

The West Ham player’s Ferrari crashed into a tree in Epping Forest during Storm Darragh in early December, causing the 34-year-old a broken leg and leaving him in hospital for more than three weeks.

Antonio has since been in rehabilitation, working his way back up to fitness, including spending a period of time in Dubai working on weight training.

“I’m in a good place,” he said. “I’m a good three months ahead of where I should be. I’ve lifted 130 kilograms on the leg. Mentally, I’m in a good place too.

“I shattered my femur bone in four different places. They’ve had to put the bone back together. They say between six to 12 months before it starts healing properly.”

Asked how much he remembers of the crash, Antonio replied: “It’s crazy, because I don’t remember very much at all. That’s the last thing I remember: leaving the house and going to training.

“[I remember] nothing, which is weird because the whole way through this people have told me that I was awake and speaking to everybody.

“It was windy and wet and a horrific day. I’d had the car for three weeks and I was already thinking about giving it back, because the back of the car kept swinging out on me, so I didn’t really feel safe in the car. All I know is I hit a tree. I don’t know how I hit a tree.

“The police came and when they found me I was in between the two seats. I wasn't actually in the driver's seat. They said it looked like I was trying to climb out of the window, but because my leg was so badly broken the pain probably stopped me from being able to get out. The helicopter couldn't get off the ground, so I was driven to the hospital.”

Michail Antonio does not know how he crashed his car into the tree. All he knows is that he did.

Michail Antonio

Antonio revealed he went to see the remains of his car three weeks ago, which gave him “a weird feeling in my stomach” and was “difficult to see”.

“Since the car crash, I’ve been more emotional than I’ve ever been in my life. It’s made me have an easier and happier life, because all that stuff I kept pushing down, it’s actually letting it out.

“I almost wasn’t there for [my six children]. That was the most difficult part for me. I’ve got another chance at life. For now, anyway, I’m staying far away from sportscars.”

Some people at the time had speculated that drink or drugs might have contributed to the crash, but Antonio staunchly refuted that accusation.

“That [speculation] is just part of human nature. I was literally on my way home from training, so there was no way or no space for me to have any drink or any drugs. I’ve never taken drugs in my life anyway, and I’ve said it live on TV that I like a drink, but in this situation there was no drugs or drink. That’s been ruled out, confirmed, by the police.”

He said of his return to the club’s training ground: “I was avoiding going back. I was slightly embarrassed by the crash, by the accident. I didn’t really want to be seen.”

Antonio has previously spoken about therapy, even before the crash in December, and he describes it as “one of the best things to happen to me in my life.”

He added: “If I could change the world, the one thing I would do: I would implement therapy on every individual in the world at certain parts of their life — [at ages] 10, 16, 21, 30 — because everyone is going through certain things. Being able to understand your life just helps people. I also think it would help the suicide rate.

Michail Antonio does not know how he crashed his car into the tree. All he knows is that he did.

BBC

“To be honest, at first I kept it hidden,” he said of his own therapy. Antonio added that he found it “difficult” to watch new manager Graham Potter come through the door at West Ham while being unable to impress Potter in the early weeks of training.

The Jamaica international, asked how confident he is of a return to playing, said: “I am 100 per cent [sure] I’ll be back on the pitch.

“This is what I’m focused on and this is why I’m in six days a week. Mentally, I believe so too, because I never give up. I always push myself. This is just another setback and it’s not going to stop me.”