West Ham face a battle to keep hold of attacker Marko Arnautovic after receiving a bid in excess of £35million for him from a Chinese club, according to the head of talkSPORT Lee Clayton.
Clayton, who is also a Hammers season ticket holder according to his Twitter bio, tweeted to report that the London club would find it hard to keep the 29-year-old key player as the wages he’d potentialyl be offered by the Chinese club would be amazing.
West Ham have received a bid in excess of £35million for Marko Arnautovic. The bid is from a Chinese club. They want to reject it. The wages will be amazing. Hard to keep him. More to follow on @talkSPORTDrive
— Lee Clayton (@LeeClayton_) January 9, 2019
However the talkSPORT employee did share that the Hammers were keen to reject the eight-figure bid despite them now facing a task trying to keep him.
“West Ham have received a bid in excess of £35million for Marko Arnautovic. The bid is from a Chinese club. They want to reject it. The wages will be amazing. Hard to keep him,” stated Clayton.
OPINION
This is the worst news West Ham could potentially receive in January as if there was one player Manuel Pellegrini would not want tempted by an exit it would be Arnautovic. The 29-year-old forward is head and shoulders above the club’s other forward options and there would be uproar amongst fans if the club agreed to let him go anytime soon. This is because Arnautovic has basically established himself as a fan favourite after regularly coming to his side’s rescue by scoring the goals needed to get points on the board. The forward has scored eight goals in his 17 outings so far and scored 11 in 35 outings in his 2017/18 campaign in order to ensure the Hammers didn’t suffer relegation. If Arnautovic was to be sold due to the player forcing the club’s hand somewhat due to wanting to move to China to get the big wages that are mentioned above, Pellegrini would have to act quickly for a replacement to be brought. While he’d have the funds to do so if the offer above is accepted, finding the right target could prove difficult.
