Goodnews: West Ham reportedly make first move to sign Arnautovic 2.0, he’s an absolute handful
Marko Arnautovic left West Ham United under extremely acrimonious circumstances way back in 2019.
In January 2019, West Ham supporters were taken aback by Danijel, Marko Arnautovic’s brother and agent, when he revealed the reasons behind his client’s desire to quit the team:
Marko was acquired by West Ham for peanuts. They bought him for £20 million, which is a pittance in the current market. He performed the job for which they bought him last season—keeping them in the Premier League. He won every accolade given out by the team, including players’ choice, best player, and signing of the year. West Ham has just made an incredible offer. It nearly doubles what they originally paid for him. His desire is to enter a new market and compete for titles. That’s what he desires. He fervently hopes that West Ham will accept the offer from
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.
Since then, he has played for Inter Milan and Bologna.
Most Hammers supporters will admit that, even after his contentious departure, we still miss him a lot.
Cheikhou Kouyate, his former colleague at the London Stadium, once called him a “unbelievable” player.
In 65 games across all competitions, Arnie scored 22 goals and provided 12 assists at West Ham (Transfermarkt).
But his all-around skill set was what really kept us together as a unit. Throughout the entire game, the Austrian maintained continual pressure on the opposing central defenders by running the channels.
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, since Arnautovic, I can’t think of another signing we’ve made of that caliber! Kurt Zouma, perhaps, but he was by no means a regular starter for Chelsea at the time.
Is Solanke the potential replacement for Marko Arnautovic at West Ham United?
This season, he has scored 18 goals in 35 Premier League games. Since the beginning of the 2021–2022 season, he has scored 53 goals in the league, which is an extremely good return (Transfermarkt).
The Hammers will be in a great position to make some significant progress if they are able to get the 26-year-old striker to the London Stadium this summer.
