Michail Antonio cannot wait to fulfil a boyhood dream and take his first steps in Barclays Premier League football as soon as he can with West Ham United.
The former Nottingham Forest winger, who joined the Club in a deadline day transfer, could make his Hammers bow in this evening’s meeting with Newcastle United alongside a couple of other new arrivals in the form of Victor Moses and Nikica Jelavic.
Having risen all the way from non-league football with Tooting & Mitcham in his early career to now playing for West Ham, Antonio says he is truly living the dream.
“It’s like a dream to be here at West Ham, back in London,” he beamed. “I’ve been out of London for six years, so just being able to pop round to my mum’s house, see my brother, see my family and friends I went to school with makes life so much easier for me.
“I just had a new-born and my mum’s only seen him once, but now I’m down here I can bring him round whenever I want.
“West Ham is home for me and it’s a Club I used to come and watch when I was younger. It’s Premier League, and we’ve got a great fan base so hopefully we can push on and see where we can finish this season.
“It excites me every day when I think about making my Premier League debut. Every day I wake up before my alarm just to come to training because it has always been my dream, so hopefully I can do it on Monday.
“Since I was a kid, it has always been my dream to kick a ball in the Premier League and it could happen today.
“I am a player who wants competition and wants to get better. Every team I’ve gone to I’ve had to prove that I’m the best in that position at the Club and it’ll be no different here.
"There is good competition, but I want to thrive and try to be the person who is first on that sheet.”