OPINION
West Ham closed the book on the whole saga involving attacker Marko Arnautovic on Monday by confirming his exit but it’s too soon for Hammers co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan to be praised for getting him out of the club.
The Hammers’ official website confirmed on Monday that the Austrian forward had left the London Stadium on a permanent basis in order to join Shanghai SIPG for an undisclosed fee.
This development, the final one in Arnautovic’s Hammers journey, came after reports of him handing a transfer request, as stated by Sky Sports, and reports that Manuel Pellegrini and his teammates had perhaps had enough (Source: Guardian).
After Arnautovic’s exit was confirmed, talkSPORT broadcaster Ian Abrahams effectively slammed the door on Arnautovic as he departed, as he claimed no one will miss him, before praising Sullivan and Gold for sorting out the situation so quickly.
Less than 50 word goodbye statement, no-one at West Ham will miss this guy and well done @davidgold and Sullivan on sorting the situation so quickly https://t.co/cuqR7Yxh62
— Ian Abrahams (Moose) (@BroadcastMoose) July 8, 2019
“Less than 50 word goodbye statement, no-one at West Ham will miss this guy and well done @davidgold and Sullivan on sorting the situation so quickly,” said Abrahams via his verified Twitter account.
However, should Gold and Sullivan really be praised at this point? Abrahams is surely jumping the gun to do so.
While the pair did well to oversee Arnautovic’s exit quickly sorted in the summer, there were warning signs in January about him after he handed in a transfer request, as stated by the Express, and it’s not like Hammers fans can stop thinking about his exit until a replacement arrives.
After all the 30-year-old forward was the Hammers’ main goalscoring threat in his 2018/19 campaign as he left the club’s scoring charts after scoring 11 goals in 30 outings (Source: BBC).
Arnautovic is also not the only attacker to leave this summer, meaning Manuel Pellegrini is short of options up front.
Andy Carroll was let go, as confirmed by the club, once his contract was expired and Lucas Perez, who scored six goals last season, was sold to Alaves.
Now while the Hammers are trying to sign Celta Vigo forward Maxi Gomez, according to the Guardian they’re trying to get him to snub Valencia, maybe Abrahams should hold off praising Gold and Sullivan over Arnautovic until they make sure his name isn’t one that could potentially haunt the club in the coming season.
