The Potters lost the Austrian striker to the Hammers in 2017 and ended up being relegated from the Premier League at the end of the season.
Stoke City midfielder Charlie Adam has admitted that Marko Arnautovic’s departure to West Ham United was a big factor in their downturn in form and eventual fall from the Premier League to the Championship.
The Austria international joined the Potters in 2013 from Bundesliga side Werder Bremen for a reported £2.52million fee and, during his time at the Bet365 Stadium, made 145 appearances, scoring 26 goals and registering 32 assists, according to Transfermarkt.
In the summer of 2017, Arnautovic left Stoke to join then West Ham for a reported £20million fee and that season proved to be a poor one for the Potters as they dropped out of the top flight at the end of the campaign.
The Staffordshire club has struggled for form in the Championship this term, currently sitting 15th in the table, 12 points adrift of the playoffs with just seven games left, and with just 10 league wins all season.
Speaking at a Q&A with supporters at Knypersley Sports Club on Tuesday evening and reported in the Stoke Sentinel, Adam gave his honest opinion on Arnautovic and, in contrast, bemoaned how, as individuals and as a group, they never truly stepped up to the mark following his exit.
“I think it’s a combination of a lot of things that accumulate over a couple of years,” said the Scotland international. “Losing Marko was a big thing for us. We never really replaced Marko.
“Marko for that 18 months was brilliant for us, he won us a game out of nothing. Then you expect other ones to step up to the mark and you never really performed to the level we should as a group, as well as individuals.”
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