Michail Antonio’s rehab journey back to West Ham a smashing success

West Ham’s super-sub for the first month and a half of the season, Michail Antonio, has been on the mend since tearing his hamstring and has been enjoying his time off the pitch.

The exciting winger/ Swiss Army Knife player for West Ham was sent to the rehab table far sooner than any supporter would have liked, but Michail Antonio is injury prone and injury is almost expected with him. Now, since Manuel Pellegrini took over the team and revamped the medical team Antonio enjoyed a relatively injury-free season last year.

His hamstring tear this season against Newport County in the League Cup was devastating. His form was great, and his ability to transform the game for the Hammers off the bench was helping them string together results and points. Since dropping, Yarmolenko has been leaned on and has succeeded early, but getting the Muscle Moose back in the lineup is an immediate improvement in the team.

His time off the pitch has been spent rehabbing the injury and undergoing surgery to repair the tear in his leg. Preliminary estimations had his recovery taking up to Christmas time, leaving the Hammers without their super-sub for possibly more than three months.

What he’s been doing during his time off the pitch has been anything but a mystery. Antonio has spent his time upping his social media content and supporting his teammates wherever he can. He’s present on match days, upping the Hammers, and in between games he’s either talking about his return or spreading his wings in non-football related events.

Whether that means he’s talking Call of Duty with Declan Rice, having a go at Spurs and his match-winning goal against them, stepping up his fashion game or prepping for the release of the latest FIFA content, Antonio has been digitally documenting his time off.

Far and away the best bit of content he’s produced has been the scream-off between West Ham’s kit man and Declan Rice’s offseason vacation shouts. It’s clear Antonio likes to torment the kit man for good fun, but bringing Declan into the fold just makes it that much funnier.

The need for the Hammers to get Antonio back doesn’t make or break for the season, but it could be the key to them taking their play to a new dimension. Late substitutions as or right now are tools to get periphery players minutes and development like Fornals and Ajeti. With Antonio, the option to ramp up the game comes back into play for Pellegrini.

He’s a terrific follow on social media and is currently acting as a great representative and ambassador for the club and its players. Check out his recent interview on BBC Radio where he talks up the likes of Declan Rice here.