As is tradition, many new sources come forth with exciting inside information after ExWHUemployee, Dave Walker, and Kevin Slade host their weekly West Ham radio show. Well, I’m here not to break any of their news but rather interpret it. After Ex’s segment, one thing became clear – it isn’t Marko who holds the cards in this scenario, it’s West Ham.
The sentiment that West Ham fans are prepared for heartbreak due to the Dimitri Payet saga of years ago is one echoed throughout social media. One big distinction between Arnautovic and Payet is that Arnautovic isn’t striking from matches or training despite the offers from China and his desire to leave.
Manuel Pellegrini addressed this in his pre-Bournemouth match press conference stating;
"“Marko is working with the team without any problem. When you have such a high offer, everyone wants to leave but he has a contract here and we will know what will happen about it in the coming days. I don’t think that the player will refuse to play.”"
Should Marko decide to force a move away this month this could change, much like his time at Stoke City before joining West Ham.
Until that time, Arnautovic is training and performing like there is nothing wrong and that should be noted; he isn’t sulking he’s just being a professional. I assume this is him proving that he’ll earn his move to China rather than him sulking and protesting his way out of the club. To me, this proves he has nothing against the club, players, manager, or direction of the team but is rather concerned with his lavish spending as Ex revealed.
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This puts West Ham in the driver’s seat for negotiations. It was already reported that the Hammers knocked back a £35m bid from Shanghai immediately, allowing them to set his price at £50m. It was rumored a £45m bid would be coming in but has not yet been received.
With a plethora of options lined up to replace him, but an inflated and expiring transfer window making them increasingly difficult to negotiate a replacement, all is quiet from the Hammer’s boardroom as of now.
The method of replacing your player before shipping him out seems to be the method here which leads me to believe that despite the challenging time period, Pellegrini, Husillios, and the David’s are actively negotiating for Marko’s replacement as we speak. With ties to Spain through previous work, Husillios and Pellegrini should be able to act quickly and decisively when discussing Maxi Gomez from Celta Vigo.
Ex confirmed that Gomez was the ideal candidate in Pellegrini and Husillios’ eyes to replace Arnautovic. He’s big, a good finisher, and represented Uruguay at the World Cup. At just 22-years old the switch is a no brainer, even if the Hammers have to reinvest all of the money raised in the sale of Arnautovic.
On the sale, yet again Ex revealed that West Ham are only on the hook for 20% of the profits of Arnautovic’s sale, safeguarding the initial £20m spent on him. This drastically improves the likelihood of his transfer in general.
The other side of the deal is the 100% tax CSL teams face when importing players. However, if they were willing to throw an initial bid of £35m to West Ham, they won’t have a problem upping that to £45m, a fee I think would be accepted.
So, until Arnautovic allows his attitude to take over, West Ham holds all the cards in this transfer. What ensures his move is the replacement, likely Maxi Gomez, being confirmed into the club, something I believe both Pellegrini and the board want. Despite his effectiveness, West Ham transitioning from a 30-year-old striker to a 22-year-old is a no-brainer, especially when Pellegrini inhered the former.