HAMpy Birthday Michail Antonio: My mom stopped me signing with Tottenham at 14

Our HAMpy Birthday series returns with a birthday shoutout for the one and only Michail Antonio.

It was birthday #27 for the gregarious bundle of joy, talent and overall excitement that is Magic Mic this past Tuesday. And while he was once again unlucky to not make his England debut due to injury, that didn’t dampen the spirits of this colossal personality during the entire international break.

Antonio was invited on Premier League TV for a sitdown interview, with none other than the great Ian Wright beside him, and revealed some intriguing things about his mother pushing education in the footballer’s life.

The former Wolverhampton star discussed how he was almost going to be a physical education teacher and how he was thinking about going to college for sports science. He also discussed how he almost signed with Tottenham at age 14, only for his mother to deny the request due to the long travel from South to North London he would have had to do on a daily.

“My mom is like, ‘Football is not a guarantee, education is,’” he said. “And she said, ‘Education comes first.’ And I think it was probably one of the best things my mom could have done for me. Because I feel I now have my education. But now, I also got my football.”

Also, it was a no-brainer for David Gold to give a Twitter birthday shoutout to a player he is very much enthralled with.

And of course, a HAMpy Birthday to Michail Antonio can’t be without a dance montage from him:

HAMpy Birthday to you again, Magic Mic. May you continue to provide West Ham excitement that’s so sick.