West Ham have this morning denied that Manchester United have expressed any interest – formal or informal – in striker Marko Arnautovic.
An overnight report claimed that the Red Devils had made their interest known and that the Hammers were aware of it – but then added that there would be no winter bid for the Austrian.
It then suggested there could be a bid in teh summer which appeared to possibly lie on whether manager Jose Mourinho was still in charge.
And this morning ClaretandHugh contacted a senior insider at the club by ‘phone who immediately laughed off the story.
He said: “You are right to say it doesn’t make sense. I’ve never heard of a club approaching another and saying they are interested in a player but adding they may or may not make a bid but not at the moment anyway.
“Nobody does business that way. The truth is there has been no contact from anywhere on Marko and we are not in the market for bids anyway.”