JibrinLeicester City passed up the chance to sign Michail Antonio to avoid triggering further financial difficulties, the striker has claimed.
Antonio has put pen to paper for Qatari side Al-Sailiya two months after his proposed move to the Foxes fell through.
The former West Ham forward had been training with the club under Marti Cifuentes from December into early January, but he picked up a muscle injury that prompted the club to withdraw from the agreement.
Antonio has now stated he did experience a calf problem, but was scheduled to rejoin City, only for the club to reject that opportunity in order to protect their finances.
City have been docked six points this term for breaches of Profit and Sustainability Rules connected to their final season in the Championship and must tread carefully to avoid exceeding the loss threshold now they are back in the second tier.
However, after the deal for Antonio collapsed, City proceeded to secure four arrivals at the close of the transfer window, though none of them were centre-forwards.
Dujuan Richards, recruited on loan from Chelsea, can operate up front, but was brought in as a winger. He failed to even make the bench for the defeat to Norwich on Saturday.
Antonio regained fitness following his calf injury in February, and trained with City’s relegation rivals Charlton before opting to make the move to Qatar. Prior to his stint at Seagrave, the Jamaica international had attempted to secure a deal with Brentford.
“When I found out I’d torn my calf the day before signing for Brentford, I laid in bed for two days,” Antonio told BBC Sport.
“First day, I was just crying. The second day, I just didn’t want to get out of bed. I thought ‘I’m back where I want to be, I’m back in the Premier League’. And then it happened again with Leicester.
“I was meant to return to Leicester but they didn’t want me back in because they didn’t want a relapse on their books. So I trained alone for a week and then went into Charlton.”
With no striker signed in January, City will have Patson Daka or Jordan Ayew leading the line for the remainder of the campaign.
They have netted just five non-penalty goals between them in the Championship this season at a rate of one every 659 minutes.
City were also heavily linked to Ivorian forward Ibrahim Diabate, who finished as top scorer in Sweden in 2025.
However, he joined Alaves in La Liga. He is yet to feature for the club, and was an unused substitute in their past two matches.
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