Wolves would reportedly be very interested in Michail Antonio this month, if West Ham United were open to offers.
That is according to Alex Crook, who first made the claim last night on Twitter.
Crook first said that Wolves were back in for defender Craig Dawson.
Wolves tried to sign him in the last window, but were unsuccessful.
They are apparently looking to sign him again, and Crook then said there was another West Ham player they were interested in. He later revealed that the player in question is Antonio.
Antonio, 32, has been with West Ham now since 2015, when he joined the club from Nottingham Forest for around £7 million.
He has enjoyed a successful time with the club, making 252 appearances and scoring 66 goals. He’s also made 41 assists.
Those are some impressive numbers considering Antonio came to West Ham as a winger and right-back.
According to talkSPORT, Julen Lopetegui has now identified Antonio as someone who could come in and improve his attack.
He has already completed a move for Matheus Cunha. But the Brazilian is not an out-and-out striker.
West Ham may seek to cash in on Antonio. The player only has one-and-a-half years left on his contract, and so it’s theoretically a good time to sell before his value plummets.
The Hammers have Gianluca Scamacca now, making regular minutes harder to come by for Antonio.
And there is speculation at the moment that they are trying to bring in Youssef En-Nesyri from Sevilla.
Michail Antonio would be a solid signing for Wolves, but West Ham might not do business
So Wolves also want to bring in Antonio, as well as Dawson.
Antonio would make a for a great addition. He’s no longer at his peak, but Antonio has vast experience of the Premier League and remains a real handful to play against.
Former West Ham manager Alan Pardew said of Antonio in 2021 (Evening Standard): “He had a chaos factor about him that is needed in a football match, otherwise it is painting by numbers. He gave us that and he still has that.”
In that piece, there are also comments from current West Ham boss David Moyes about Antonio being a big character and personality. It has been suggested that Wolves need such types, after offloading several last summer.
The issue is that West Ham may not wish to do business with Wolves.
They’re not having a good season, and could be opposed to selling a player to Wolves since the two clubs are close to each other in the table.
They may not want to run the risk of strengthening Wolves.