Everton are ready to make an early summer bid for West Ham forward Marko Arnautovic, according to the Sun.
The newspaper claim the cash-rich Merseyside club’s new manager Marco Silva has made the Austria international one of their main summer targets.
The Sun report Everton are willing to tempt West Ham with a big-money offer for Arnautovic who they bought for £24million from Stoke last summer and now value at around £50million.
OPINION
West Ham would find it difficult to reject the chance of a huge profit on a player who turns 30 next season and who has spent just one year at their club. Moreover, the first half of that season was a disaster until David Moyes’ arrival flicked the switch for the big forward and yielded a golden run of form that secure the Hammers’ Premier League survival. Arnautovic’s 2017-18 record of 11 goals and eight assists from 35 matches is decent, if far from earth shattering, but he has the added value of being able to play both down the middle and out wide, which he did for most of his four years at Stoke. Certainly, he would be an upgrade on any striker currently at Everton, who have failed to adequately replace Romelu Lukaku. The Merseysiders have the added advantage of being backed by the riches of Farhad Moshiri, who has already taken drastic action to right the wrongs of a wretched 12 months by appointing Silva and new recruitment chief Marcelo Brands.
