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Why Man Utd won’t sign Arnautovic this summer

By Scott Johnson

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 22: Marko Arnautovic of West Ham United celebrates scoring his side's first goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and West Ham United at Emirates Stadium on April 22, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 22: Marko Arnautovic of West Ham United celebrates scoring his side's first goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and West Ham United at Emirates Stadium on April 22, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) /
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Marko Arnautovic won Hammer of the year last year. Now West Ham may have to fend off interest from Manchester United.

Given Arnautovic’s first few months at West Ham, this story is a surprise. Obviously since then he’s gone on to do very well for the club, but for United to be interested? That is a bit of a leap. Obviously any story without context is crazy, but I still don’t think the Austrian will make a move up north this summer.

How did it start?

Well like a lot of transfer rumours, it started with something very simple. Mourinho appeared at Austria’s pre-World Cup match against Russia, and obviously that means there is no possible explanation apart from he’s scouting players. And that must mean Arnautovic. Right?

Well, no. Mourinho is part of Russian TV’s punditry team for this World Cup. So it makes sense he would be watching World Cup warm up games in order to get a feel for some of the teams. And obviously he would focus on Russia because that’s the team Russian TV will care most about.

Obviously he could have been there scouting players, but these are all international players. There are other reports claiming he was scouting Russia’s Golovin. Truly, unless you ask him why he was there to expect it to be Arnautovic is something of a leap.

Why would United be interested?

Well he has been playing well and he has been scoring. He also seems to have sorted some of his attitude issues that have plagued him throughout his career and in the first few months in East London.

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Mourinho has also worked with Arnautovic before, even if there were issues of behaviour and the Austrian not turning up to team meetings, so there may be something there. He has also criticised many of United’s current attacking options, so there’s ammo there.

However I really doubt he’d pick Arnautovic out of all the potential options he has. There’s a huge issue of attitude at United already, and the Austrian will not help that. He’s doing well at West Ham where is the main man. Play flows through him, the fans adore him and he was seen as the go to guy, and that suited his personality. I don’t think he’s willing to play too much of a support role too often.

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Cost of move

This is one of the big areas I think will cause any move to collapse. Arnautovic is worth far more to the Hammers than United will want to pay for him. ExWhuEmployee stated that the club would want at least 50m and a player for him. Given previous criticism, Mourinho would probably look at offloading Martial or Rashford.

Even if they got the cash side down, 20/30m+ a decent player like Martial/Rashford is a steep price for a 29 year old who hasn’t done it at a top team. That is a deal that heavily favours the Hammers and the United fans know it. There was a lot of backlash on social media regarding any potential move, and I really don’t think there’s any part of that fanbase that would truly support a move at that price.

Will it happen

All in all, no, I don’t think so. I will be very surprised if there is any move for the Austrian striker because the East London club are not needing to sell, and if they are to progress under Pellegrini keeping hold of the best players in their squad for the next couple of years is extremely important.

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If any move does happen, it will be expensive and I imagine that the Hammers will be better off on the face of it. However Mourinho has won trophies all his career, so if he goes for the player he will have a reason. It’s just not one I would really understand. And for Arnautovic, there would be CL football on offer, but how much? Would he be another victim of big club rotation?

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