West Ham fought into the top half of the table this season, and want to push on after the summer. Can the Hammers rely on Marko Arnautovic to be a piece of that puzzle?
If Hammers fans were asked to point to the moment our season took a bit of a nose dive, it would be when Arnautovic decided he wanted to leave for China in January. After that point the best West Ham could do was string a few games of form together, but nothing really looked the same after.
However he is undoubtedly the best striker in our squad, and one of the more talented members overall. If he can be focused and pointed in the right direction then he is a huge asset. In fact he’s the first person to score 10+ Premier League goals in back to back seasons for the club since Carlton Cole. We won’t replace him cheaply.
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On a purely idealogical point I would want him to leave the club. In January he acted as though he was bigger than the club and as though he could decide when his contact was appropriate and when it wasn’t. That isn’t the kind of player I want at my club. And it disrupted the year, and almost certainly is still an issue in the dressing room in one way or another.
However I also know that Manuel Pellegrini won’t be at the club forever, and even if he does extend his contract beyond the current 3 years it won’t be for too long. So he wants to take the club onwards and upwards soon. And that means using your best players whenever you can and getting the best out of the squad. If the Hammers are going to get value out of their transfer funds they will not want to spend on players they already have. If Arnie is going to be here and firing next season, that saves us some cash.
And those saying cash in and buy a replacement, there’s not too many around for the kind of money an ageing, potential club disruption is going to land us. And with Perez and Chicharito likely to want out of the club as well we’re already looking for strikers. Why should we add to our own problems and look to shift an experienced Premier League goal scorer.
I know we don’t want to want him. But I think that he could be good for us. In the final game of the season he seemed genuinely happy for club captain Mark Noble and, despite starting the season on penalty duty, made no attempt to push the club legend away from having the opportunity to double his personal tally. I can hope at least, but I would love to see him back and firing next year.