Antonio opens up on recurring car crash nightmare - ‘I jump out of my sleep’

Michail Antonio has revealed that he continues to be haunted by a recurring nightmare of his car crash. The former West Ham United forward was involved in a devastating accident back in December 2024 after crashing his Ferrari into a tree in Epping Forest.

Antonio has previously revealed that he was close to losing his life in the incident but escaped with a severely broken leg. The 36-year-old has now returned to English football, having had a brief spell in Qatar with Al-Sailiya, joining Championship side Watford in the summer following trials with Leicester City and Brentford.

Despite now being on the mend, Antonio has revealed that he continues to be blighted by a recurring nightmare of the crash.

“I’m driving on the road, and then a van swerves in front of me, and I swerve the van, then I jump out of my sleep,” Antonio said to The Telegraph.

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“And that’s the only part that’s come to me. But I don’t know if that’s true or not because it could just be a nightmare. So that’s why I’ve not really come out and told anybody else about it.”

Antonio has previously confirmed that he remembers nothing about the crash itself, something that continues to affect him and his family to this day.

“As much as it happened to me, I didn’t really live it because I don’t remember it,” he added. “My family lived it more than me because I didn’t actually get to experience it. They saw the car crash, had to go to the hospital and see me lying there.

“I don’t remember being in the hospital. So it’s my family telling me how I was when I was there. It’s so difficult to sometimes speak to them because they have such a vivid memory of it, and I don’t.”

Antonio’s contract with West Ham expired in the summer of 2025, albeit he continued his rehabilitation with the Hammers. Moves to Leicester and Brentford fell through before his eventual switch to Qatar.

His move to the club came just days after the Middle Eastern nation was hit by Iranian missiles. The accident and his move to Qatar has given him a fresh perspective on life.

“I had so many things that I had to do, but I kept pushing them down the line because I was like, ‘I can do that later’,” he said. “Since the car crash, I realised later is not always guaranteed. And later could be too late.

“I had so much free time once I finished training, after I had my nap. By the time I finished my nap, it’s still four or five o’clock. I could have done that stuff, but I chose not to because I knew I had training the next day and that was my main focus.”

Antonio has yet to make his debut for Watford, having been named on the bench in last week’s 2-1 defeat to Stoke, while he was not in the squad for the recent reverse to Bristol City.