West Ham United have come clean with their stance on their star forward Marko Arnautovic. The club is reportedly decided on not putting him up for sale with Manchester United circling the player.
The West Ham United star joined the London club last season from Stoke City in an expensive deal that was worth £20million with further add-ons to be jotted in later. United boss Jose Mourinho was pictured by Vivaro News at Austria’s friendly against Russia in Tyrol raising further speculations that United could be on their way to signing the Austrian forward.
However, no official bid has been made yet and West Ham have already set their rules refusing to let go of Arnautovic, no matter what. The player has a past connection with the Portuguese boss having played for Jose at Inter Milan back in 2009-10.
United are looking at new attackers after failing to win a single trophy this season, something extremely unlikely of a Mourinho team. They finished 19 points behind Manchester City and Mourinho could be looking to add further reinforcements to ensure that United improve on their performance in the upcoming season.
Arnautovic’s career at West Ham had a slow start. However, after the appointment of David Moyes, the winger was shifted to the role of a striker and he flourished immediately. He ended up scoring 11 goals in the season, becoming the first Hammer to get into double figures since the days of Diafra Sakho back in 2014/15.
The Austrian also won the Player’s Player of the Year at the east London club. Further honours came his way when he was awarded the Hammer of the Year award and also the Signing of the Season at the club’s end of season awards last month.
He has become a crucial part of the West Ham frontline and it is unlikely the Hammers will want to part ways with him. West Ham have certainly announced their intentions very clearly this season after appointing Manuel Pellegrini as their head boss. It is being reported that the new Hammers boss will be gifted a hefty kitty worth £75million to bring in new players, something that might convince Arnautovic to stay.
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The winger who has become the centre-forward at the club might have an extremely important role to play under Pellegrini’s new regime and it is now up to the former Manchester City boss to convince the Austrian to ditch United in favour of a stay at London.
