West Ham Transfers: Marko Arnautovic Makes £24m Switch From Stoke

Austrian becomes The Hammers' record signing.

by Benjamin Richardson
Marko Arnautović Playing For Austria Vs Wales 01
By Steindy (talk) 14:39, 10 November 2016 (UTC) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

West Ham have become the latest Premier League club to break their club transfer record after confirming a deal for Stoke City winger Marko Arnautovic.

According to The Guardian, the Austrian international has agreed to join the East London club for a fee understood to be in the region of £24m, surpassing the Hammers' previous most expensive signing of £20m for André Ayew last summer.

The 28 year-old, who registered 22 Premier League goals during his time in Staffordshire, is the latest piece of shrewd business by Slaven Bilic's team, joining Premier League winning ex-Man City duo Joe Hart and Pablo Zabaleta, as well as Mexican striker Javier Hernandez in the arrivals lounge at the London Stadium.

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The Irons are the sixth Premier League club to shatter their transfer record during this season of silly spending, alongside fellow Londoners Arsenal (Alexandre Lacazette, £52.5m) and Chelsea (Alvaro Morata £58m), newcomers Brighton (Matthew Ryan, £5.10m) and Huddersfield (Steve Mounié, £11.4m), as well as Bournemouth (Nathan Aké, £20m). It's all a bit much.

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.