Stoke City chairman Peter Coates has said he is ‘disappointed’ in Marko Arnautovic after his move to West Ham, claiming his club helped ‘resurrect’ the midfielders career.
The Austrian joined the Hammers last week in a deal worth £25 million only 12 months after signing a new contract with Stoke, the club whom in joined in the summer of 2013 from Bundesliga outfit Werder Bremen.
Arnautovic joined the Potters with a somewhat of a bad reputation from his time with Inter Milan and in Germany, something Coates believes Stoke helped eradicate, telling TalkSport (via the Evening Standard): “We are disappointed in him. We resurrected his career. Our managers and coaches worked very hard to improve him and made him a name in the game.
“Last year we spent so much effort into giving him a long-term contract and the first thing we get in the summer he comes back he wants to leave. But the team is more important than the individual.”
Arnautovic, who ‘can’t wait’ to get started at West Ham, could make his debut for the Hammers next week against his former club Werder Bremen in the Betway Cup.
