Ant backs Cout plea
PHILIPPE COUTINHO is right to want to leave Liverpool and “go on to better things” with Barcelona.
West Ham’s Michail Antonio, who began his career at non-league Tooting and was linked with Chelsea this year, claimed no one in a “normal job” would be prevented from seeking promotion and improved pay.
And he insisted the Brazilian had “no other option” than to make a transfer request.
“Can you give someone a bad name for wanting to be ambitious? For wanting to move on to bigger things?’’ said Antonio.
“In a normal job, if there was a chance for you to get promoted, are you going to go: ‘no, no, no.’ Or, are you going to strive and move forward and be better?”
The England squad player added: “I have a degree of sympathy for him. He handed in a transfer request because he had no other option.
“He’s been the perfect servant for them for the last three or four years.”