Finance expert Dan Plumley believes West Ham have dealt with the Antonio contract situation well, and the club has to do “what works best for them.”

It has been seven months since Michail Antonio broke his leg in a car crash and he is close to making a recovery and will soon be able to play football again. However, his contract at West Ham is due to expire at the end of the month, and he has rejected the club’s short-term offer.

West Ham want to support Antonio through his recovery and have him at the club next season, but we would be stupid to give him a one-year extension on the current terms because we have no idea how he is going to be when he’s back. Also, if he wasn’t injured, he very likely would have been let go, so we are likely only offering him a deal to support him through his recovery.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, finance expert Plumley explained what the next steps were for the player and the club. “Given what happened to him, it’s a really tricky situation.

“He’s been an exceptional player for that football club, but he’s 35 so of course, the age factor comes into it. There’s another angle to this in terms of the player, the club and the longevity of his career; they will of course, support him, and I absolutely understand that.

“They’ve been great with him and I think they will continue to do that. It seems that, genuinely, there is a desire from the club to support him. Contractually, they probably feel like they’ve got to do what works best for them.

“I think he’s a good asset to some clubs somewhere, if he can get back to even half of the levels he’s been at in the last few years, which have been exceptional.

“But it’s a really delicate situation because you don’t want to just cast the player aside, given what’s happened to him. But also, you’ve got that contract situation to work with, and they’ll have plans for the squad moving forward into the future as well.”