Former West Ham United manager Harry Redknapp has weighed in on the situation surrounding Hammers frontman Marko Arnautovic and revealed he is seriously worried about the Austrian kicking up a fuss.
BBC Sport reported on Thursday that an unnamed Chinese club had submitted a £35million bid for the 29-year-old, and Redknapp has now given his opinion on the matter, insisting it will be a difficult situation to manager.
“I had the situation with Luka Modric when Chelsea came in for him,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “But I think Arnautovic is a different type of character to Modric.
“I think he’ll kick up a bit and I think it will be difficult for West Ham to keep him happy. I think if he wants to go he looks like a boy who’s not going to be easy to handle. I think he’s going to be a problem for them.”
"I think he's going to be a problem for them."
Former #WHUFC manager @Redknapp says it could be very difficult for the Hammers to keep hold of Marko Arnautović 😬👇 pic.twitter.com/AjnBhfBlLp
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) January 11, 2019
OPINION
There’s an awful lot of assuming going on from Redknapp, here. He thinks, for whatever reason, that Arnautovic will kick up a fuss and be temperamental if he doesn’t get what he wants. But have we seen any evidence at West Ham to support that fact? Throughout this season Arnautovic has been linked with one team or another and yet he’s been professional and carried on putting in good performances for Manuel Pellegrini’s team. Yes, the Austrian does have a reputation as being difficult to handle, but he’s been terrific throughout his time at the London Stadium. Having said that, he could do what Redknapp expects, we simply don’t know what’s going to happen. He obviously has a somewhat spiky personality so this could unfold as Redknapp predicts, but it does feel like he’s judging Arnautovic before this situation has really played out. Let’s wait and see what happens over the rest of this month.
