Michail Antonio training with Championship club as comeback nears following near-death car crash and release from West Ham

Antonio's vehicle collided with a tree after leaving Hammers training. He had to be cut from the wreckage and was airlifted to hospital. Once in medical care, the veteran frontman underwent emergency surgery on his broken leg.

It was suggested at the time that Antonio may struggle to walk again, never mind kick a ball around. He was, however, able to make remarkable progress in his recovery and returned to international action with Jamaica in June 2025.

The former Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest winger severed ties with West Ham shortly after those outings, with the Premier League giants not allowing matters of the heart to rule their head.

Antonio has continued to work on a fitness programme since then, with time spent at Brentford after accepting an invitation from Bees boss Keith Andrews. As a proven top-flight performer that registered 83 goals for West Ham through 323 appearances, his vast experience can be put to good use somewhere.

That may be in the East Midlands, with John Percy of The Telegraph reporting that Antonio had been at Leicester's training ground on Thursday for talks, though nothing officially has been finalised.

Leicester suffered relegation out of the Premier League last season and have found the going tough back in the Championship - with talismanic title-winning captain Jamie Vardy moving on to Italian outfit Cremonese as a free agent.

There may be a role for Antonio to fill in their attack, with Jordan James currently the Foxes’ top scorer in 2025-26 with five efforts to his name. Marti Cifuentes’ side sit 13th in the second tier table - three points adrift of the play-off places.

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Antonio would certainly appear to boast the hunger required to join the ranks at King Power Stadium. He told TNT Sports recently of wanting to land another contract: "I wasn’t done with football and I didn't want my career to be finished literally in a car crash.

"The very first thing is, as soon as I could speak to the doctor, the first thing I said to him was, ‘Am I going to play again?’, and from him saying to me, ‘Yes’, that was me, no problem, that’s all I need to know. I knew I had more in me and I knew I’ve still got more in me."

Antonio made three appearances for Jamaica at the CONCACAF Gold Cup over the summer, taking him to 24 caps, and remains determined to get back on the goal trail.

He added on his experience with the Reggae Boyz: "I was back on the pitch within six months. I played a couple of games for Jamaica in June. Still to this day it burns me.

"The first time I get on the pitch, there was a time where a player at Jamaica, he’s gone through, I’m standing open goal, all he needed to do was roll me the ball. I was screaming at him. Let me have this moment, first game back, comeback story, it’s written in the stars. He missed and you know the worst thing about it? He missed it and it goes half a yard behind me. I’m stretching my leg, I’m stretching my leg so much just to get a touch but it goes behind me."

Antonio is now fully recovered from his accident - an incident that his brain has blanked out as he remembers nothing - and has cut his teeth as a pundit while waiting on an enticing offer that takes him back onto the field.