Darren Gough claimed West Ham selling Marko Arnautovic to Chinese club Shanghai SIPG was good business.
Max Rushden asked Gough for an opinion on all the transfer rumours and confirmed moves of the day on Monday and when he asked him about the Hammers getting rid of the 30-year-old forward, the talkSPORT pundit simply said good business.
“Good business,” said Gough on talkSPORT (18:55, Monday, July 8th).
West Ham confirmed, via a brief statement on their website, on Monday that Arnautovic had completed his move from the Hammers to the Chinese Super League club for an undisclosed fee.
OPINION
Gough is probably right to say the Hammers did a good bit of business getting Arnautovic out of the door. The 30-year-old forward may have been the club’s top scorer in their 2018/19 campaign with 10 goals, averaging a goal every 184 minutes (Source: BBC Sport), but if reports were to be believed he couldn’t stay at the club beyond this summer. The Guardian described Arnautovic as being disruptive and claimed the Hammers previously felt let down by his behaviour in January when he tried to force a move. The national newspaper added that Manuel Pellegrini was furious with Arnautovic and that the attacker’s teammates believed it was for the best if he exited, so unless there was a drastic change in attitude; he had to go. However, it is very important that the Hammers’ current attackers Felipe Anderson and Javier Hernandez are ready to step up and deliver more goals next season and that West Ham swiftly sign another centre-forward who can be prolific in the Premier League. If they don’t do that, then Arnautovic’s exit may haunt them a little bit.
