{"id":448813,"date":"2026-02-27T17:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448813\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T17:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:05:08","slug":"premier-league-icon-signs-for-new-club-months-after-undergoing-surgery-following-horror-car-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448813\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier League icon signs for new club months after undergoing surgery following horror car crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michail Antonio has reached an agreement to join Qatari Stars League outfit Al-Sailiya on a short-term contract.<\/p>\n

It ends his 14-month absence from club football following a devastating road accident.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old former West Ham forward will feature in the club’s final six fixtures of the campaign, which concludes in April.<\/p>\n

Official confirmation of the transfer is anticipated within the coming days.<\/p>\n

Antonio sustained fractures to his leg in four separate locations during the collision in December 2024.<\/p>\n

He crashed his \u00a3260,000 Ferrari FF, which struck trees near Theydon Bois in Epping, Essex.<\/p>\n

The move represents a significant milestone in his remarkable recovery from injuries that threatened his career.<\/p>\n

During his time at West Ham, Antonio amassed 323 appearances and found the net 83 times before his contract expired last summer.<\/p>\n

\"Michail<\/p>\n

Michail Antonio has reached an agreement to join Qatari Stars League outfit Al-Sailiya on a short-term contract<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

The Hammers opted not to renew his deal following the accident, though he did make a brief return to action with the club’s under-21 side, netting twice in his first match back.<\/p>\n

Since departing the east London club, the striker has been working to regain fitness at several Championship outfits, including training spells with Brentford, Leicester and Charlton.<\/p>\n

Despite these efforts and discussions with multiple clubs, no permanent arrangement materialised until the Qatari side came calling.<\/p>\n

Charlton had been in advanced discussions with Antonio regarding a pay-as-you-play arrangement, but the Championship club paused proceedings following a medical examination.<\/p>\n

\"Michail<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old former West Ham forward will feature in the club’s final six fixtures of the campaign, which concludes in April<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

It was during this period of hesitation that Al-Sailiya made their move for the experienced striker.<\/p>\n

Leicester had also come close to securing his services earlier in the year, but those negotiations collapsed when Antonio suffered a hamstring injury while training with the Foxes.<\/p>\n

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho revealed he had also contemplated bringing the forward to Fratton Park.<\/p>\n

Brentford held separate talks with Antonio about a potential return to the Premier League, though those discussions similarly failed to produce an agreement.<\/p>\n

\"Michail<\/p>\n

Michail Antonio underwent surgery after a horror car crash<\/p>\n

| Reuters<\/p>\n

Antonio’s path back to competitive football began with three substitute appearances for Jamaica at June’s Concacaf Gold Cup, his first matches since the horrific incident.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the BBC in March, the forward described being “close to dying” after the crash and spoke of being granted “another chance at life”.<\/p>\n

Following his release from West Ham, Antonio took up a punditry role and was confirmed as part of TNT Sports’ coverage for the 2025\/26 season.<\/p>\n

His new club currently occupy ninth position in the Qatari top flight, sitting four points clear of the relegation places, with former Everton defender Mason Holgate among their squad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michail Antonio has reached an agreement to join Qatari Stars League outfit Al-Sailiya on a short-term contract. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[59526,218,217,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-448813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-england-football","tag-football","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}