Michail Antonio Joins Watford on Free Transfer
Watford have rolled the dice on experience and personality, confirming the signing of former West Ham United striker Michail Antonio on a free transfer.
The 36-year-old, who will wear the number 18 shirt at Vicarage Road, has agreed a one-year deal after spending the past month training under Alessio Dionisi. He becomes the Hornets’ 12th signing of a busy summer and could be thrown straight into Championship action once international clearance arrives in time for Saturday’s home game against Stoke City.
“Watford is a big club and hopefully I can come in and bring success and help wherever I can,” Antonio told the club’s website.
From broken leg to fresh start
Antonio’s route back to English football has been anything but smooth.
His final senior outing for West Ham came in a 3-1 defeat at Leicester City on 3 December 2024. Four days later, his season – and, it seemed, his Hammers career – was shattered when he suffered a broken leg in a car crash.
West Ham released him in June 2025, ending a decade-long spell in east London. The club still opened its doors for his rehabilitation. Antonio returned to play two games for their under-21s in Premier League 2 as he fought to rebuild fitness and rhythm.
He briefly stepped away from English football, joining Qatari side Al-Sailiya. That stint was short: four appearances, his last coming in April, before he looked again to the Championship and beyond for a way back.
Near-moves and near-misses
Antonio’s name has hovered around several clubs over the past year.
He trained with Leicester City last December and was on the verge of signing for Brentford. That move collapsed in brutal fashion: a torn calf muscle the day before he was due to put pen to paper for the Bees ended the deal and sent him back to the treatment room.
Watford have decided that risk is worth taking.
Dionisi has watched him closely over the past month at the training ground. The Hornets, sitting 12th in the Championship with two wins, two draws and two defeats from their opening six games, want more punch at the top end of the pitch. Antonio, a Jamaica international with years of Premier League nous, offers exactly that if his body holds up.
Full circle in the EFL
For Antonio, this move also feels like a return to his roots.
Before his £7 million switch to West Ham in September 2015, he carved out his reputation in the EFL with Reading, Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest. Powerful runs, back-post headers, improvised finishes – the Championship knew all about him long before the Premier League did.
Now he drops back into that same unforgiving division, older, scarred by injuries, but with a career’s worth of experience to lean on.
Watford have been busy reshaping the squad all summer. Antonio is the 12th new face through the door. He might just be the one who changes the mood if he starts bullying defenders again.
Stoke City at home, Championship lights on, Vicarage Road waiting. After a year of crashes, setbacks and cancelled deals, how quickly can Michail Antonio make this his stage again?
