Michail Antonio thanked Sheffield Wednesday on his way to historic European trophy win with West Ham

The West Ham United forward played 94 minutes of the Hammers’ Europa Conference League final win over Fiorentina on Wednesday evening, a win that delivered the first European title in 58 years.

It was their first major title since a famous FA Cup win in 1980 and put Antonio and his teammates into iconic status in East London.

The 33-year-old Jamaican international spent two years as a Sheffield Wednesday player from 2012 to 2014 - initially on loan from Reading - scoring 17 goals and claiming 19 assists in 84 appearances.

Writing in the Wednesday programme during the 2019/20 season, Antonio - who spent a season with Nottingham Forest between his stints at Hillsborough and the London Stadium - spoke glowingly of his stint with the Owls.

He said: “I liked being in Sheffield, it was a nice, calm, chilled city. I was there with my missus and my kid and I enjoyed it. My son almost had a Yorkshire accent, but he’s lost it now!

“I had played a couple of games in the Championship with Reading, but at Wednesday I found my feet as a Championship player moving forwards.”

Explaining that his switch to Forest came about at the right time for both himself and Wednesday, Antonio said he didn’t necessarily feel at the time that he had to leave S6 to follow his dream of playing Premier League football, but it proved to be the right move at the right time.

He has often expressed his continuing support of the Owls on social media.

“I went from getting nine goals a season to getting 15 goals in one year and getting a move to West Ham,” he said. “I haven’t looked back since.

“It was a great experience being at Sheffield Wednesday, I enjoyed every minute of it. It’s a great club that I hold dear to my heart and I still look at the table, and I watch them whenever they are on TV.”