Paul Merson has suggested that Marko Arnautovic could still leave West Ham, despite the forward’s assertion that he is staying at the club.
Following a lengthy transfer saga, the Austrian revealed last night via social media that he intends to stay at the London Stadium, as reported by the BBC.
Speaking on Soccer Saturday (Saturday January 26th, 12pm, Sky Sports News), Merson suggested that West Ham fans need to forgive Arnautovic for the debacle, but also claimed that he could still foresee him leaving the club this month.
He said: “There’ll be a few that will have got the hump. He’s their best player by a distance in my opinion, that’s the problem.
“I hope they take him back to heart because he was a hero of theirs and they need to do that because if they don’t he will go the other way.
“There’s still five days left of the window, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else came in for him, one of the top teams.”
OPINION
Merson’s suggestion that Arnautovic could leave before the end of the window will have West Ham fans worried. It may be based on nothing but gut feeling, but that fact that the Sky pundit still thinks that the Austrian could be away after seemingly pledging his future to the Hammers is a real concern, and speaks volumes about how he perceived in the footballing world. This whole transfer saga has cast the 29-year-old as a money-grabbing mercenary, and it would be hard to blame West Ham fans if they didn’t take him back into their hearts after such a confusing and tumultuous debacle. Merson is right to suggest that they have to try though. The Austrian is a real threat and offers a level of quality that few players outside of the top six do, but he is also temperamental, and it’s easy to envisage a situation in which he lost his head a little if the crowd weren’t on his side. He may have said otherwise, but this whole episode is far from over.