Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Now, Arnautovic might be a money-mad mercenary but his greed is matched by the Hammers’ board
IF you type the words ‘Arnautovic’ and ‘mercenary’ into Twitter it produces some predictable results.
“He’s all that’s wrong with the game... scum of the earth... cancer... stabbed fans in the back .... just like Tevez... the days of loyalty are gone” are a few of the printable ones that accompany the West Ham striker’s name and the word the Cambridge English Dictionary defines as, “Interested only in the amount of money that you can get from a situation”.
It comes as a Chinese Super League side have reportedly bid £35million for the striker and offered him £200,000 a week, which West Ham have turned down, but Marko Arnautovic would very much like to accept – immediately.
Most Hammers fans appeared philosophical during Saturday’s game with Arsenal, but many will be peeved, especially after Dimitri Payet’s hurtful departure in similar circumstances two years ago left a bad taste in the mouth.
And none were impressed with Arnautovic’s brother Danijel, who represents him, lying about the prospect of medals being the real reason he wants out. “He wants to go to a new market and challenge for titles. He knows the West Ham fans love him and he has a special connection with them, but things move on.”
To be fair, Arnautovic has always moved on.
As a youth, he had six spells at four different clubs in Austria, went to Holland when he was
17 then travelled to
Italy,
Germany,
Staffordshire and
London.
He turns 30 in April and no European club is going to offer him a four-year contract worth £41.6m, so who can be surprised his feet are itching again?
A “flabbergasted” Chris Sutton asked: “How much money does he actually need? It’s just greed, isn’t it?”
The probable answers being (1) as much as he can get from a final contract and (2) it depends how you define ‘greed’.
If a player agitates for a lucrative move to Real Madrid is that less greedy than heading to Shanghai because the trophies you can win there matter?
The Austrian is merely the latest
in-demand player to be defined as a mercenary. Last January Alexis Sanchez and Philippe Coutinho got it and there will no doubt be someone else before the window shuts.
But in this post-bosman era of emerging markets and mind-boggling media rights, has the word “mercenary” lost its power?
Is Aaron Ramsey one for declining what Arsenal want to give him and running down his contract after a decade there?
Was Mesut Ozil a loyal Gunner for agreeing to stay when they came up with £350k a week, or a cynic who knew he had them by the goolies after Sanchez fled? And can West Ham moan about evil money-grabbers who don’t give a damn about trampling over their employers having just signed Samir Nasri?
Talking of employers, if Arnautovic is sold I hope West Ham’s board don’t reach for their dictionary and call him the kind of person “interested only in the amount of money you can get from a situation”.
This, after all, is the club that got the taxpayer to deliver them a new stadium, which wasn’t a patch on their old atmospheric home, but which, as Karren Brady told the money men would take their “brand values” soaring as it was the Premier League club closest to the City.
And I hope they don’t repeat their trick after Payet left when they offered any fan who handed back a shirt with his name on a new blank one for £25.
Despite those shirts going for £36.66 in the sale, meaning anyone taking part in the swap could watch the season’s remaining eight home games in replica nameless shirts at a huge saving of £1.45 a game.
Which sounds pretty mercenary to me.