Thomas Hein
Manchester United could be looking to sign Marko Arnautovic from West Ham United according to Sky Sports. The Austrian had only joined the Hammers from Stoke City last season for a club-record fee of £25m and did help the side avoid relegation after some struggles during his initial months after the transfer.
There is one small complication in the transfer as the report also claims that West Ham have no intention of selling the 29-year-old. They have slapped a £50m fee to ensure Arnautovic stays in London.
This would not be the first time the Austrian would have worked with Jose Mourinho as the pair was a part of Inter Milan in 2009. The attacker scored 11 times and provided 6 assists for the London club this season and can play in a number of positions.
However, his time at Inter did not work out and Arnautovic left the Italian giants to join Werder Bremen and resurrected his career a little bit.
United finished the season without any silverware, 19 points behind Manchester City in the Premier League table. It should not be a surprise that Mourinho is willing to splash the cash and bring in a number of players to take us to the next level and challenge Pep Guardiola.
While we have Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in our ranks as strikers, adding someone like Arnautovic could provide us with an X-factor.
The Austrian isn’t the most prolific scorer either but his work rate gradually improved under former Hammers boss David Moyes. Hence, Mourinho will have a decent base to work with again should Arnautovic end up at the Theatre of Dreams.
The 29-year-old would also provide us with a lot of bench strength as we look to challenge on a number of fronts next season.
