West Ham United captain Mark Noble has moved to explain Marko Arnautovic’s lack of form.
Arnautovic was agitating for a move to China in January where he stood to quadruple his then £100,000 per week salary.
It came after his agent and brother Danijel told talkSPORT that the West Ham talisman had made his mind up and wanted to leave.
The Hammers took a hardline stance after their star striker was the subject of a £35million bid from a Chinese club – believed to be Shanghai SIPG (Sky Sports).
Arnautovic saga explained
West Ham refused to start negotiations at anything less than £50million, though.
Arnautovic remained at West Ham and even signed a new deal on improved terms.
That did not sit well with fans after he had refused to play for the club because he ‘was not in the right frame of mind’.
He has barely featured since.
But he impressed as a substitute against Fulham last time out, setting up Michail Antonio for West Ham’s third in a 3-1 win and twice going close to scoring himself.
Noble moves to explain Arnautovic slump
It leaves fans scratching their heads as to how Arnautovic seems to turn it on when he wants to.
Now skipper Noble has explained in The Evening Standard why his teammate hasn’t been hitting his usual heights of late.
“Marko Arnautovic has been training well,” Noble told the Evening Standard.
“Everyone knows what happened in January and it is only now, after coming back from injury and with all the speculation behind him, that he is properly regaining his fitness.”
Hammers need in-form Arnie for run-in
With games against Manchester City on Wednesday and Newcastle at the weekend, West Ham will undoubtedly need Arnautovic at his best.
So fans will be relieved to hear a positive update from Noble.
Now it is over to Arnautovic to start earning his new paycheck week in, week out for the rest of the season.
Do that and West Ham have a genuine chance of finishing seventh.
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