Former Premier League footballer Jason Cundy has defended West Ham attacker Marko Arnautovic amid speculation over his future.
The Austrian’s brother and agent told talkSPORT last week that he wants to leave the Hammers to move to China, leading to criticism from some quarters.
Cundy has come to the player’s defence: “Marko Arnautovic, he ain’t from East London, he’s not a West Ham fan,” he told talkSPORT. “He’s here to earn money – it’s a job. The game has changed, and fans need to try and understand that he doesn’t hate West Ham, there’s just a better offer somewhere else.
“People says footballers are mercenaries, who isn’t a mercenary? There are very few people who wouldn’t double their wages to go and work for someone else. Why should footballers be any different?”
“Arnautovic isn’t a West Ham fan, he’s here to earn money, it’s a job.”
“Fans need to understand there’s just a better offer. Who isn’t a mercenary?”@JasonCundy05 says #WHUFC fans shouldn’t be upset with Arnautovic. pic.twitter.com/B5qAuJ6zan
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) January 18, 2019
OPINION
This is an interesting argument from Cundy. Footballers are often treated as different to normal people but, when you put yourself in Arnautovic’s shoes the situation becomes less clear. As Cundy says, everyone would double their wages to do the same job somewhere else, that’s just a fact. However, the counter-argument from West Ham fans would be that the 29-year-old is being payed healthily enough as it is. He’ll be on a boatload of money at the London Stadium, so supporters will ask ‘how much money does he need?’ That, too, is a reasonable question. A footballer’s career is short, though, and so Arnautovic is probably looking to get one big payday in before he rides off into the sunset. That, again, is understandable. You can see this from both points of view, really. The thing that Hammers supporters will be most irritated by is the conduct of the player and his brother – which has not been understandable.
