Marko Arnautovic left West Ham United under extremely acrimonious circumstances way back in 2019.
The agent and brother of Marko Arnautovic, Danijel, stunned the West Ham fans back in January 2019 when he explained why his client wanted to leave the club:
“West Ham bought Marko for peanuts. They paid £20million for him, which is nothing in the current market. They bought him to keep them in the Premier League last season and he did that. He took every award at the club; best player, signing of the season and the players’ award. Now West Ham have a fantastic offer. It is close to double what they paid for him. He wants to go to a new market and challenge for titles. This is what he wants. It is his great desire that West Ham accept the offer from China.”
The now 35-year-old spent two years at the London Stadium before leaving to join Chinese club Shanghai SIPG in 2019.
The striker earned an incredible £200k-a-week in China (Daily Mirror).
Arnie forced his way out of West Ham after handing in two transfer requests, once his agent (brother) made it clear to him he was in line for a massive contract out in China.
Still, despite those antics, the West Ham fans always have appreciated a proper player and the former Stoke City man certainly fits into that category.
He has since gone on to play for Bologna and now Inter Milan.
Despite his acrimonious exit from the Hammers, most fans will agree that we really miss him, even to this day.
His former teammate at the London Stadium Cheikhou Kouyate once described him as an ‘unbelievable’ player.
Arnie bagged 22 goals and 12 assists in 65 games in all competitions for West Ham (Transfermarkt).
However, it was his all-round game that made us tick as a team. The Austrian ran the channels and constantly kept the opposing central defenders occupied for the entirety of matches.
West Ham have missed him desperately since he left, despite the impressive transition of Michail Antonio from winger to centre-forward.
Now though, it seems like we finally could replace Arnautovic, five years later no less!
West Ham make first move to sign Arnautovic 2.0
The Hammers need to make numerous new signings this summer.
The main priority should be the addition of a top-class centre-forward – someone who fits the mould of an Arnautovic type striker.
And it seems like that’s exactly what West Ham are trying to do.
talkSPORT claim that the Hammers are lining up a move to sign Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke this summer – someone who we’ve been tracking for quite some time now, most recently back in January.
West Ham signing a regular starter at the very top of his game from another Premier League side is a rare occurrence.
In fact, I can’t think of a signing we’ve made of that ilk since Arnautovic! Some may say Kurt Zouma, but he certainly wasn’t a consistent starter for Chelsea at the time.
So could Solanke really be West Ham United’s new Marko Arnautovic?
He has 18 goals in 35 Premier League games to his name this season. He’s bagged 53 league goals since the start of the 2021/22 campaign – a really fine return (Transfermarkt).
If the Hammers manage to bring the 26-year-old striker to the London Stadium this summer, we’ll be in a really strong position to make some genuine progress.
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