{"id":340108,"date":"2025-08-13T03:18:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T03:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/340108\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T03:18:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T03:18:15","slug":"leeds-united-news-clarity-given-as-michail-antonio-visits-thorp-arch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/340108\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds United News: Clarity given as Michail Antonio visits Thorp Arch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former West Ham striker Michail Antonio<\/a> is a free agent after his contract at the London Stadium expired, and there\u2019s unsurprisingly speculation linking him with Leeds United<\/a> and others that are searching for a new signing up front.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniel Farke, as things stand, is going into the first game of the Premier League season with a Championship-standard attacking group, with only Lukas Nmecha arriving during the summer while Manor Solomon left the club after his loan concluded.<\/p>\n

It leaves plenty of work to be done as the club prepares for a survival challenge, and United aren\u2019t short of players being touted for moves to West Yorkshire, some more eye-catching than others.<\/p>\n

Most Read on LeedsAllOver<\/p>\n

Would Michail Antonio be a viable signing for Leeds United up front?<\/p>\n

Nmecha arriving as a free agent proved Leeds\u2019 willingness to bulk out their squad with the odd cheap deal as and when appropriate, but two notable Premier League-hardened strikers remain without a club this summer.<\/p>\n

Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Michail Antonio are still free agents after leaving Everton and West Ham respectively, with the latter\u2019s contract expiring following a huge long-term injury layoff after a gruesome car accident back in December 2024, having scored 68 Premier League goals during his time with the Hammers.<\/p>\n

\"\"(REUTERS\/Toby Melville)<\/p>\n

TalkSPORT duo Ray Parlour and Ally McCoist (11\/8)<\/a> believe he\u2019d be a \u201cno-brainer\u201d for a side like Leeds in the Premier League relegation scrap.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI would say it\u2019s a no-brainer,\u201d Parlour opened. \u201cYou might as well take him. He\u2019s got all the experience. He can probably help young players in the club itself. He could be the last 15, 20 minutes off the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw him yesterday. He looks extremely fit, raring to go,\u201d McCoist responded. \u201cI actually think the Leeds fans would really like him. I think he\u2019s the type of player Leeds fans would take to.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Truth behind Michail Antonio being spotted at Leeds United\u2019s Thorp Arch training ground<\/p>\n

Interestingly, another reason for the rumour to gain legs was that the 35-year-old was seen at Leeds\u2019 Thorp Arch training ground recently.<\/p>\n

However, FourFourTwo\u2019s Joe Donnohue<\/a> shares that his presence in Wetherby wasn\u2019t in order to pursue a free transfer to United, but instead regarding a new sports supplements venture that Antonio has founded.<\/p>\n

Antonio founding this new company has also seen him make likewise visits to Championship clubs Ipswich Town and Oxford United as well.<\/p>\n

Being at the back end of his career, Antonio is claimed to be outside of the age range Leeds are looking at on their striker shortlist.<\/p>\n

Michail Antonio will not be joining Leeds United, and is not a \u201cno brainer\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The notion of \u201cPremier League experience\u201d being the key driving force behind players seemingly being good fits for clubs like Leeds doesn\u2019t make much sense.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, someone like Sean Longstaff could prove a shrewd signing for many reasons, but it\u2019s more to do with what he offers on the pitch and the sort of character he can be in the squad, as opposed to the fact he\u2019s played in this league before.<\/p>\n

Antonio hasn\u2019t kicked a ball in eight months, and Leeds need a striker that can start games and lead the line effectively, which he simply cannot and probably won\u2019t be able to again at a Premier League level after such a horrific injury setback.<\/p>\n

The same probably goes for Calvert-Lewin, who would be viable if consistently fit, but we all know that he\u2019s unable to keep himself available.<\/p>\n

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former West Ham striker Michail Antonio is a free agent after his contract at the London Stadium expired,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-340108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-leeds","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115019298139863782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}