Stoke reject £15m bid from West Ham

West Ham have failed with an initial bid of £15m for Marko Arnautovic with Stoke saying he will only be sold ‘if terms are right’.

“We have received a bid from West Ham for Marko and it was turned down,” Coates told Jason Burt from the Daily Telegraph.

“Mark (Hughes) is planning to meet with the player and hopefully he can find a positive resolution, as he did last year. We will only sell Marko if the terms are right but he’s not a player we want to lose.”

Following the bid rejection, the 28-year-old forward is claimed to have handed in a transfer request to force through the departure but chairman Peter Coates has insisted that Stoke will not be pressured into letting Arnautovic leave on the cheap.

Stoke are thought to value their player at a minimum of £20m in the current market and will hold out for better offers in the hope of getting as much as £25m.

Another rumour suggests Robert Snodgrass could go the opposite way in a part exchange.