West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini has admitted that he would be open to selling striker Marko Arnautovic if the right offer came in for his services, despite the club not wanting to.
Chinese club Shanghai SIPG have held a firm interest in their star asset – so much so that they are willing to triple his current wages of £100,000-a-week [Spotrac] with the Hammers – but Claret and Hugh have reported that the club are not going to offload the Austrian under any circumstances.
However, Pellegrini has taken a different stance to the future of the first teamer, and said that he would consider letting Arnautovic leave if everybody came to the right agreement.
“So they are not forcing me to sell Marko Arnautovic, but I think as a manager the best thing is to take the solution that is best for the player and the club, both together. If they agree, we don’t have any problem to change,” he said, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
“I am not telling the club about it. If it’s a good deal for both parties we will arrange to be without Marko – but the club doesn’t want to sell him.”
OPINION
It looks like Pellegrini has a completely different stance to the club over Arnautovic should be sold to the Chinese outfit. He says that he would prepare to be without the centre-forward if the right offer came in for his services and both parties were able to reach a good agreement over his departure. However, the club are not going to change their view anytime soon, so Pellegrini might as well forget about his own thoughts on the matter. The club have made it perfectly clear that Arnautovic will remain as a West Ham player during this current transfer window, and that is something that Pellegrini will have to understand. Nevertheless, this stance from the manager indicates that even though he is a crucial member of the team, being without him will not be the be all and end all. The boss has shown that his side will be able to cope without him if they prepared for his departure – whenever that may be.
