West Ham United’s striker, Michail Antonio arrives in Ghana to pay a visit to his football academy, Samba Stars.
Following his arrival to the country for the first time, he granted a brief interview to many media outlets at the entrance of the Kotoka international airport providing details to the essence why he had made a decision to visit Ghana.
Speaking on Monday, November 11, 2024, Michail Antonio acknowledged the magnitude of phenomenal football talents in the country and what he intends to do with his team in order to aid the youngsters harness their natural raw football talents.
“Obviously I have come here for my work, you see we have starting an academy here in Kumasi because we know about all the talents here. Mohammed Kudus is at the club (West Ham United) right now and we just want to give the boys over here the opportunity to breaking through into the Premier League,” Antonio said.
The West Ham forward added that, he is “inspired by the pull of talents that Ghana has and to give the motherland an opportunity to get their players, our families to the UK or worldwide that are playing football. We see the talents from Moto several other players moving so it is just an inspiration to be able to give the opportunity to the players here.”
Michail Antonio further cited the few success his academy team, Samba Stars have clocked with regards to the number of players he had transferred to some English clubs and the championships his team has participated and won.
“I’m going to see the side on Saturday, the side is not in Accra, it is in Kumasi and so tomorrow morning, first thing, we are going there to see the site and on Tuesday we got TV interviews and then I need to fly because I need to go play for Jamaica so it’s just a quick stop by and hopefully if I enjoy I will come back again.
“Well, three of my players have already signed, one player signed for Chelsea and two players signed for Middlesbrough. We are giving a showcase, obviously we played tournaments which we won the last two tournaments, Samba All Stars and we give them a showcase.
“We bring scouts, Chelsea is coming down, Anderlects is coming down and Southampton come down so we bring teams across the world to Ghana to have a look at our players to give them an opportunity. If they are good enough, they get picked, if they don’t then we go again and we try bring in more players,” Michail Antonio iterated.
