Club-record signing Marko Arnautovic could reportedly leave West Ham after just half a season.
Via the medium of a YouTube montage, you could make Hatem Ben Arfa look on par with Diego Maradona. History doesn’t, of course, remember the ineffective displays and the frustrating no-shows. Nor does it remember his disastrous half-season loan spell at Hull City.
Nonetheless, Ben Arfa is without doubt one of the most gifted players in European football on his day – as his back catalogue of truly sublime goals during his spell at Newcastle United will attest.
And The Mail reports that West Ham are mulling over the idea of handing Ben Arfa another chance in the Premier League with the winger set to be loaned out – or even let go on a free transfer – after being completed frozen out by Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain.
But while the signing of Ben Arfa would undoubtedly divide the West Ham fanbase, would his arrival also pave the way for one of the biggest flops in this Premier League season to depart?
Marko Arnautovic has picked up more red cards than goals since West Ham paid Stoke City £25 million to make the winger their club-record signing in the summer, per The Guardian.
And if the patience was already wearing thin, West Ham supporters were less than impressed when the Austrian winger limped off the field against Watford last week – only to discover he had done nothing more than bruise his thumb.
Now Ajansspor is reporting that West Ham could be prepared to cash Arnautovic in already. He hasn’t, after all, produced a goal or an assist in 10 Premier League games for the club, and is set to hold talks with Fenerbahce ahead of a possible January transfer.
And is West Ham’s sudden interest in Ben Arfa an indication that one of David Moyes’ first acts will be to get rid of the club’s under-performing record signing?
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