Vlasic lauds West Ham ‘beast’ as one of ‘top three strikers in Prem’

Lewis Oldham
Nikola Vlasic

New West Ham signing Nikola Vlasic has heaped praise on Michail Antonio, claiming that he is “one of the top three strikers in the Premier League.”

Vlasic was one of David Moyes‘ deadline day signings. The attacking midfielder joined the club from CSKA Moscow for around £27m. 

West Ham travel to face Southampton on Saturday in their first game after the international break. The 23-year-old will be hoping to make his Premier League debut against the Saints.


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Ahead of this weekend’s games, Vlasic has been asked about his new teammates. In an interview with the club’s official website, he suggested that Antonio is one of the best strikers in England:

“You know, I see these players – Said [Benrahma], [Pablo] Fornals and [Jarrod] Bowen – and they’re really similar, and Michail [Antonio] is a beast and what he’s done over the last year and a half is amazing. I think he’s probably in the top three strikers in the Premier League.

“The whole team is really solid in midfield and defence and I think we can do great things.”

Antonio is an integral player for the Hammers. He was involved in 15 goals from his 26 outings last season.

The forward has made a superb start to the 2021/22 season. He has grabbed four goals and three assists from his first three league games.

Vlasic went onto say that he hopes to go down in the West Ham history books:

“I have heard a lot about how professional Tomas [Soucek] and Vlad [Coufal] are and how they have this mentality that they are always working hard and I like that because I am the same player.

“I want to work as hard as possible every day and I’m really professional.

“About Declan [Rice], he’s West Ham captain and he’s only 22 and he’s in the starting XI in the national team, so I think you don’t need to say too much about him. Everybody knows his quality and how good he is.

“Hopefully [like them] I can also be in the history books of West Ham and I hope I will put even deeper things in history, so I’m really, really excited.”