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West Ham supporters will surely be in disbelief over latest suggestion

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Image for West Ham supporters will surely be in disbelief over latest suggestion

OPINION

West Ham fans will surely be in disbelief and disagreement with a suggestion that the club should look to cash in on forward Marko Arnautovic this summer.

TalkSPORT in a list of players that each Premier League should look to sell this summer, have suggested that Arnautovic should be allowed to exit the London Stadium this summer, suggesting that the forward’s actions in pursuit of a potential January move have seen him lose the faith of West Ham supporters.

Whilst it is true that Arnautovic did not cover himself in glory during the January transfer window, when he was being linked with a potential move away from West Ham, the Austrian has since come back into the first team fold and demonstrated his importance to the Hammers.

Arnautovic’s form suffered during the midway part of the season, but the Austrian still ended up registering ten Premier League goals in 28 appearances Manuel Pellegrini’s side last term.

Those goals were instrumental in helping the Hammers secure a top ten finish in Pellegrini’s first season in charge, and the Chilean will be needing the Austria international to be fully involved next term if he is to build on a solid start to his time in charge at the London Stadium.

The 30-year-old has redeemed himself with West Ham supporters for his January antics somewhat, by signing a new extension to his £100,000-a-week contract [spotrac.com] towards the end of January, with his crucial goal in the Hammers’ impressive 1-0 win at the home of rivals Tottenham in the final few weeks of the campaign also helping to repair his relationship with the fans.

Therefore, it is unlikely to see West Ham be willing to allow Arnautovic to leave the London Stadium during the summer transfer window, especially considering forwards Lucas Perez and Andy Carroll are leaving the club.

That leaves Pellegrini short on attacking options ahead of next season, and the Chilean will be eager to strengthen his attacking options, rather than sanction any moves for any more of his forwards.

Arnautovic will be hoping to continue to have an instrumental impact on West Ham next term, with the forward having been comfortably involved in more goals than any other player in the club’s squad since the start of the 2017/18 campaign.

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