The majority of West Ham supporters want Marko Arnautovic to stay after the summer with nearly 74% of almost 1,500 saying they want him to remain a Hammer. Just over 26% of Claret and Hugh readers believe the club should sell Arnie this summer to draw a line under his West Ham career.
West Ham rejected a £31.5m bid from China for the 31-year-old in the winter while giving him a one-year contract extension, raising his basic wage to £125,000 per week and giving him a £45m release clause for the summer by a set date.
Arnautovic has heavily hinted he will remain a Hammer next season with a simple message on social media after the Southampton victory which read “We go next season.”
Those four words follow Manuel Pellegrini telling reporters post-match “I am absolutely convinced next season we will see a great Marko.
Full Poll Results: 1,490 Votes Keep Marko beyond the Summer 1,098 (73.69%) Sell Marko 392 (26.31%)
Makes sense. But he is 31, so he will get more injuries. And he is probably on a downward path now, even if he stays committed. This is definitely an area for strengthening-ideally two new strikers with Carroll & Hernandez going. I would be ok with Perez as a backup. Also I’m hoping the incomers are youngish. Probably setting my sights too high-good strikers are hard to find & the good ones cost a lot.
I think he’s 30 but yes I agree, will only decrease in value. Were a 25m plus offer come in, I’d take that money and reinvest it. I have no confidence that he wont do the same thing again next year. Not worth keeping a character who can wreck the team unity. People say we can’t replace him for 25-30m. Of course we can, we just need to get our recruitment right. Richarlison not a striker but cost 11m. We just need to find the next big thing before they are the next big thing.
Gomez, Jovic – Not 30m players 2 seasons ago. We need to become the club who gets talent before they’re discovered, benefit from their development and a big transfer fee. Simple in principle, we need to invest in the very best recruitment team.