Sky Sports News have reported that Marko Arnautovic may be looking to transfer elsewhere in an effort to secure Champions League football, leaving West Ham in a potentially critical situation.
Without the big Austrian the London-based club are left with very little in the way of viable options up top.
Of course, there’s injury prone Andy Carroll who can guarantee a maximum of three games before signing himself off for the rest of the season with a knee twinge, Javier “Little Pea” Hernandez, and want-away Lucas Perez. But realistically how reliable are they?
Marko Arnautovic guarantees goals and assists – even off the scraps he’s being fed at West Ham, and there’s very few players that offer that kind of service currently available.
With his exit looking all the more likely, we take a look at which players could be brought in to replace him and save the club from impending doom…
Mario Balotelli
This would certainly make for an interesting move if it happened.
The Italian misfit has been away from the Premier League for some time now since he flopped last at Liverpool. And, although there may be some questions over his ability, given just how badly he actually did for the Merseyside club – scoring 1 goal in 16 games – there are a couple of good reasons for West Ham to show some faith.
Indeed, at 28-years-of-age, he’s now passing into the prime years of his career so things should have naturally improved (hypothetically).
We also seem to forget that Balotelli is a very good player.
At his current club Nice, he dons a very respectable record of 43 goals in 73 games – which isn’t easy considering their recent performances.
Gabriel Barbosa
According to Sport Mediaset, West Ham are interested in making a move for Inter Milan forward Gabriel Barbosa.
Barbosa, 22, is currently on loan playing for Santos in his home nation of Brazil and will be making his big return to Italy some point next year with an impressive record of 16 goals in 31 appearances already this season.
His performances have attracted interest from the likes of Everton, Athletico Madrid and Sporting Lisbon, so we expect his stay in Milan will be short.
Like Marko Arnautovic, Barbosa is an incredibly powerful player – capable of holding up the ball and contributing key passes to his teammates in the forward positions, but perhaps lacks the same industriousness shown by the Austrian.
