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West Ham striker Marko Arnautuvic is not for sale – despite the club receiving a £35 million offer from an undisclosed Chinese club for the Austrian.
Arnatuvic, who is under contract until 2022, moved to West Ham from Stoke City in July 2017 in what was a club record fee at the time of £20 million. After an initial slow start, he has become the Hammers main striker, scoring 19 goals in 52 appearances.
However, the offer from China, believed to be Shanghai SIPG is a tempting one for Arnautuvic, offering him wages of £200,000 a week for a four year contract, and Arnautuvic’s brother, Danijel, who is also his brother, wants the club to accept the bid, reports The BBC. He argues that Arnautuvic had been bought to keep West Ham in the Premier League, which he managed, and that the Chinese offer enables the East London club to virtually double their money whilst enabling the player to move for a fresh challenge and the chance to win titles.
His current manager, Manuel Pellegrini, when asked about the situation said “I want to keep him, of course, but you never know what might happen in the future.”
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.