West Ham legend Frank McAvennie shared that Marko Arnautovic’s head must be battered if a lot of money is being offered to him to go play his football in China.
The 59-year-old delivered his verdict on how he sees an unnamed Chinese club’s pursuit of the 29-year-old, as reported by Sky Sports, affecting the player after a £35million bid had been launched and turned down.
⚒️ Ex-West Ham striker Frank McAvennie (@MaccaFrank) can't see Marko Arnautovic leaving for the club for China as he would just be harming his own career.
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📲 https://t.co/XWhRQh9myF pic.twitter.com/X2VJIQiU7w— Love Sport Radio (@lovesportradio) January 10, 2019
“It is £300,000-a-week then that can turn heads and it’s not going to be good as his head will be battered if that’s type of money they’re offering, do you want to go China and get worse?” said the Hammers icon on Love Sport Radio, in a clip uploaded to their station’s Twitter account.
“I know you’re getting all that money but I don’t think it’s about money nowadays, the guys are very well paid anyway.”
Arnautovic has been a regularly fixture of Manuel Pellegrini’s side this season, scoring eight goals and assisting two in his 17 outings.
OPINION
While McAvennie believes that football and potential transfers aren’t about money these days as everyone seems to get well paid in top-flight divisions around the world, certain players will always be chasing bigger deals. This is just normal as everyone would like to be paid the highest amount possible for their job after all, and if they can get a bigger payday somewhere else for the same effort then of course it’s going to be tempting. When you look at the fact that McAvennie suggests a potential £300,000-a-week contract is what could be offered to Arnautovic, it’s easy to see why it’s alluring as that would be three times his current wage. According to Spotrac, the Hammers forward is currently on £100,000-a-week so it would be huge a step up for him financially to move to a Chinese club if that is indeed the sort of offer on the table. However McAvennie is right to put the spotlight on the level of football on offer, as the English Premier League is surely a division more like to test Arnautovic’s abilities.
