West Ham’s players returned to Rush Green for pre-season training yesterday. And there were many familiar faces in the official training pictures. But there were some household names missing.
Exit-linked pair Marko Arnautovic and Declan Rice were not at pre-season training. This sparked some momentary panic among some West Ham fans.
But there is a logical explanation for their absence. All of West Ham’s players who were on international duty in the summer have been given some extra time off, as confirmed by whufc.com.
Arnautovic and Rice both spent time on international duty with Austria and England respectively. Rice was part of England’s Nations League squad that came third in the summer tournament. Meanwhile, Arnautovic was in the goals for Austria in the Euro 2020 qualifiers.
Lukasz Fabianski (Poland) also has an extended break after taking part in Euro 2020 qualifiers. Meanwhile, Fabian Balbuena (Paraguay) has been at the Copa America and Pablo Fornals (Spain) has been at the U21 Euros. Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo) is taking part in the African Cup of Nations.
Clubs want Marko Arnautovic and Declan Rice
Arnautovic and Rice’s absence was initially met with suspicion because both are wanted by other clubs. According to The Sun, Inter Milan fancy Arnautovic in a £30m deal.
And Rice is a target for Manchester United. According to The Independent, the 20-year-old will snub Man United and remain a West Ham player.
Manuel Pellegrini rates both of these players highly. They will both team up with the squad for the pre-season training camp in Switzerland where Pellegrini will start hatching his 2019/20 plans.
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