In-the-know West Ham man @ExWHUemployee has made a claim regarding the contract of Hammers forward Michail Antonio.
The Englishman has been with the Irons since 2015, having signed from Nottingham Forest for £8.55m, and his current deal with the club expires next summer (per Transfermarkt).
A recent report from The Guardian stated that the Hammers were ‘confident’ that Antonio would sign a new deal and the player will be getting a ‘pay rise’ from his current £70,000-per-week deal.
The report also stated that the Hammers’ highest earners are on around £100,000 per week and Felipe Anderson earns in the region of £115,000 weekly.
So, in the latest episode of The West Ham Way Podcast, @ExWHUemployee offered an update regarding the forward’s contract situation.
He said: “There’s been talk of Antonio getting a £100,000 [per-week] contract in the next few weeks, [I] don’t know where that’s come from.
“All contracts are renewed at Christmas time and he is no exception to that.
“There are a number of players whose contracts are up at the end of the year, notable ones being Antonio, [Mark] Noble, [Lukasz] Fabianski, [Fabian] Balbuena.
“So, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with their contracts, but it won’t be this early. They will be giving Antonio a contract, so I don’t know why that one’s [come] out.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what the Irons informant had to say, he believes that while the £8.55m-rated forward will be getting a new contract, it will not be for several months.
Do you believe that Michail Antonio deserves a new contract with a pay rise?
Yes, I think he's earned it
No, he doesn't deserve it
In fairness to the report from The Guardian, it was stated that ‘West Ham are not in a rush to conclude negotiations’, so, they did also insinuate that it would be some time before anything is finalised.