West Ham are expecting late developments from China on the Marko Arnautovic transfer saga towards or on Transfer deadline day!
Despite the window in the orient remaining open until the end of February the Hammers will not entertain any bids after our transfer window closes as it will be impossible to replace the Austrian.
A Hammers senior source told ClaretandHugh by e mail: “We would expect some sort of activity but we are resolute in our decision not to let him go for anything less than €50 million.
“We don’t want a late bid. We want him to stay here and then see what happens in the summer.”
Beyond the Chinese interest the Hammers have received no inquiries whatsoever for the player who has been regularly touted by most – including his agent/brother Danijel – as a top six operator.
Every source we have spoken to has made it clear there has been nothing from anywhere but China.
The player himself remains keen to make the move on what would be astronomical wages but has settled into training well this week and is causing no problems.
Still leaves us with only a week to find a replacement. I am quite keen to see him gone now but I just don’t have much faith that we can get what/who we need in a week. If we are serious about becoming a ‘big club’ we have to be looking at younger players do, ideally relatively cheap. Which means they need a lot of research into potential, their character etc. We have to move away from last minute buys. Or leaving gaps in the squad by selling too late in the window.
Not sure I agree. I have every faith that we will find a replacement in time, because the club won’t sanction the move until a player is literally about to sign. The last window suggests that Husillos, the Board and Pelle don’t mess about when it comes to getting the players they want. Gomez is only 22, so ticks your ‘young’ box. I wonder if your desire for us to be a big club, as well getting young players on the cheap is contradictory. Surely, if we want to aim for the top 6, Anderson must be the first of many £40m+ players that we invest in…?
I am also sure that research into the potential of players is a full-time job for several staff at West Ham. It’s not like the scouting network sit around doing nothing all day until someone comes in for one of our players – it’s a constant merry-go-round, so on this occasion, I have faith that Arnie will go, and Gomez will arrive. COYI