Antonio ‘buzzing’ at West Ham move

Ryan Gordon

Michail Antonio has become West Ham’s fourth deadline day signing after arriving from Nottingham Forest for a fee of £6.5million.

The 24-year-old winger joins Nikica Jelavic in joining the Hammers, who also completed loan moves for Alex Song and Victor Moses on a frenetic final day of the transfer window at Upton Park.

Antonio has been a target for West Ham boss Slaven Bilic for much of the summer and the Croatian has finally got his man with the ex-Sheffield Wednesday ace signing an initial four-year deal with the club with a further option of two years.

The former Reading trainee has hit four goals for Forest in all competitions this season and has added to Bilic’s attacking options as he prepares for his first crack at Premier League football.

“I’ve worked my way from non-league and finally got to the Premier League to show what I can do,” he told West Ham TV.

“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’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 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.”