West Ham forward Michail Antonio feels he has been given “another chance” at life following a horror car crash in December and revealed his comeback is three months ahead of schedule.
Antonio crashed his Ferrari into a tree in Epping on December 7 and a day later required surgery, which the Jamaica international explained in an interview for Morning Live on BBC One required his femur bone to be put back together after it was shattered in four places.
“I’m a good three months ahead of where I should be. I’ve lifted 130kg on the leg and I’m trying to do other things and just focus on myself, so it’s definitely a good place right now and mentally I’m in a good place too,” Antonio said.
“We kept it away from the kids. My eldest saw it because people were showing him pictures but the younger ones, they never really know how bad the situation was.
“It was more for me, the aspect of I almost wasn’t there for them and that was the most difficult part for me.
“Now it’s just made me happy and positive in life because obviously I’ve got another chance at life.”
Antonio paid tribute to West Ham for the “unbelievable” support they have offered but explained how he did need to speak to a therapist early into his recovery, especially after Julen Lopetegui was dismissed and replaced by Graham Potter in early January.
He added: “Definitely a difficult time for me and something I definitely had to bring up in therapy because when a new manager comes in, that’s the opportunity to show what you have. It took me a couple of weeks for me to get over that before I had to realise it doesn’t matter.
“If I try and rush myself back, go out there and try and show him what I can do when I’m not physically right, it puts me in a bad stead because I won’t be right and I won’t be able to do the things that I want to do.”
Back in 2021 Antonio become West Ham’s top scorer in the Premier League and helped the club to Europa Conference League success two years ago, but admitted to being embarrassed after the crash.
Antonio explained: “All I know is that I hit a tree. I don’t know how I hit a tree, that the police came and when they found me in the car, I was in between the two seats.
“From the crash, I’ve been more of an emotional man. I’m not going to lie, I was avoiding going back because I was slightly embarrassed by the crash and slightly embarrassed by the accident.
“Obviously I’ve almost died, in the car crash, it just made me slightly embarrassed that it was that bad.
“I’ve processed it to a certain degree. I think the emotions is going to take a long time.
“Physically, I’m getting better but mentally trauma lasts a long time. So, there is always going be periods and going be times where something’s going to affect me.
“Right now I have a people carrier. From now anyway, I’m staying far away from sports cars.”
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