Michail Antonio believes clubs treat footballers like meat.
The former West Ham and Jamaica national team forward shared his thoughts on player loyalty and club behaviour amid tensions between Newcastle and Alexander Isak, Idman.biz reports.
The Swedish striker has been sidelined due to uncertainty over his future, with Liverpool showing interest in him.
The 35-year-old Antonio said: “People may or may not like what I’m about to say, but I’ll say it anyway. As a footballer, I see that loyalty in this game no longer exists.
I spent ten years at West Ham, like other players did at their clubs. That loyalty is no longer permanent, and I think that’s fine, because clubs also no longer treat players the way they used to.
Why should a player be loyal to a club? I understand loyalty to the fans, but to the club, if a player is trying to develop, improve his life, and achieve success he can’t get elsewhere… that’s the reality. I think Isak simply wants to be better and is doing everything he can to achieve that.
Today, football clubs treat players like meat. We are just meat to them. As soon as our quality drops, we’re either sold or discarded.
In the past, when a player stayed at a club for years, you would see the human side of it. Now it’s all about money: how much profit can the club make? If the club is thinking about money, why shouldn’t the player think about it too?”
Idman.biz
