West Ham's Antonio came 'close' to dying in car crash

LONDON (AP) — West Ham striker Michail Antonio is “100%” assured he’ll play once more as he recovers from a automotive crash that left him with a “utterly shattered” leg and a realization “how shut I used to be to dying.”

Antonio crashed his Ferrari right into a tree simply exterior London on a moist and windy day on Dec. 7.

In an interview with the BBC, the Jamaica worldwide mentioned he broke his femur bone in 4 locations and required an operation the place surgeons “put a pole in my thigh with 4 bolts.”

Antonio, who turns 35 this month, just lately went to see the stays of his automotive at a scrapyard. He mentioned: “It gave me a bizarre feeling in my abdomen. It simply made me notice how shut I used to be to dying.”

He has been advised his rehabilitation will take “between six-to-12 months” earlier than his leg heals correctly, and feels he’s “already two-to-three months forward of the place I must be.”

“Sure, 100%. I’ll play once more,” he mentioned.

“Essentially the most troublesome half is that I virtually wasn’t there for my kids,” added Antonio, who has six children. “It is simply made me joyful, optimistic about life, as a result of I’ve bought one other likelihood at life.”

Antonio has made greater than 300 appearances for West Ham since becoming a member of from Nottingham Forest in 2015, and performed in all 14 video games this season earlier than the incident.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer