Former Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has revealed he wanted to sign Michail Antonio at Aston Villa before he went on to sign for West Ham.
Sherwood, sacked last October by Villa after just one win through three months of the season, was eager to sign Antonio but the move never materialised for one reason or another.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday yesterday (h/t HITC), Sherwood claimed that Antonio was a player he highlighted as a possible signing, but didn’t state at which point of his tenure did he look into signing him.
“When I was at Aston Villa, he was a player I highlighted. He was playing in a poor Nottingham Forest team and he was shining,” he told Sky Sports.
“He has got pace and power but more importantly he scores goals. He’s gone the non-league route which seems to be increasingly popular.
“It’s fantastic for Antonio and even in a poor result yesterday, he managed to affect the game.”
The former Tooting & Mitcham star joined the Hammers in a £7m transfer from Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2015 on deadline day and went on to have a breakout season in the Premier League.
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He’s built on his successes to open the new campaign, becoming a star man for a struggling Hammers side and is the joint-top scorer in the Premier League with Diego Costa with five goals in five games (all headers) and his fine form has been rewarded with an England call-up earlier this month.
Villa have just one win in their opening eight games of the season and hope Roberto Di Matteo can help steady the ship and start to building a march on the promotion places.
