Michail Antonio is one of West Ham’s longest-serving players.

The Jamaican joined the club in 2015, and he’s nearing on a decade in east London.

However, the striker very nearly left the club on a number of occasions.

Antonio has been linked with several clubs over the years, and according to the man himself, speaking on the High Performance Podcast, he very nearly left West Ham last summer.

Indeed, Antonio says that there was a club lined up who were willing to pay over the odds to sign him, but, for some reason, the plug was pulled late in the day.

Michail Antonio almost left West Ham

The ‘fantastic’ striker spoke about leaving the Hammers.

“I have an agent and my agent is like a brother to me and he’ll get a call from a club say they are interested and he’ll speak to West Ham and see if they’ll do it or not,” Antonio said.

“What is quite crazy about West Ham is that most summers they have said to me ‘you are not for sale.’ And there have been a couple where they’ve said ‘you can leave.’ But when a club has been interested they’re like ‘we ain’t selling you.’

“Last summer was the closest I came to leaving. I had someone there willing to pay over the odds, but I started the season on a high and they pulled it away from me.”

Michail Antonio could go this summer

Michail Antonio has had a fantastic career at West Ham, but it could come to an end this summer.

A managerial switch will bring about a number of sweeping changes at West Ham this summer, and Antonio could be a casualty.

At the age of 34, he can’t be a part of the Hammers’ long-term plans at this point, and his bulldozer style may not suit Julen Lopetegui’s style of play.

Don’t be shocked if Antonio does finally get his move this summer.