The chairman of Michail Antonio's former club Tooting and Mitcham United say that it was only "a matter of time" before he made the big time.
The 25-year-old received a call-up to Sam Allardyce's first England squad on Sunday to the delight (and perhaps a little surprise) of everyone involved with West Ham.And Steve Adkins, chairman of Antonio's former non-league club - for whom he featured between 2003 and 2009 - was delighted to read about the West Ham winger's shock nod.
"It was really clear that he was special when he was a teenager here," Adkins told nonleaguedaily.com. "There were scouts from the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal looking at him and we all knew it was a matter of when, not if, he would make it into the professional game.
"There was no ego, he is down-to-earth and even after he went through the professional steps he would come down to the club to do some personal training between seasons. When he helps the kids down here even now he is a natural.
"He is the guy next door and being a professional, with all that he has achieved, he has never changed."
* Last night Antonio gave his first full interview since being named in the England squad, which you may see below.
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