West Ham to accept ‘terrible deal’ for troublesome Arnautovic

West Ham “are willing to do a terrible deal” just to offload Marko Arnautovic this summer.

Arnautovic seems likely to leave West Ham after handing in a transfer request amid interest from the Chinese Super League.

The forward almost left in January but the Hammers refused to do business and he instead signed the most pointless contract extension ever.

Interest in the Austrian commodity has predictably been revisited and after rejecting a £19.7m bid, they could be prepared to sell for 25m euros (£22.5m).

“I have been in touch with a very senior source at West Ham,” Kaveh Solhekol told Sky Sports, “and asked him ‘are you okay with us reporting that a deal has been agreed for Arnautovic to go to China? We have heard it will be announced in two days.’

“He has just sent me a reply, and the reply says ‘yes. Terrible deal for us, but manager, staff and players want him out’.

“They are so desperate to get him out of the club that they are willing to do a terrible deal to get him out of West Ham.

“I have had another message from someone else who knows what is going on at West Ham, and it says ‘a deal is getting closer for Marko to leave €25m. We feel we have no choice but to let Marko go as it is bad for team morale if he stays.

“‘The team is the most important thing and players who want to play for a team moving in the right direction is the most important thing.'”