West Ham sells Marko Arnautovic to Chinese champion Shanghai SIPG

West Ham announced the sale of Marko Arnautovic to Chinese champion Shanghai SIPG in a terse, two-line statement on Monday. The value of the deal was not disclosed in a statement from West Ham which offered no thanks for the Austria forward’s 22 goals in two seasons.

The club’s Twitter account message was even shorter: “Marko Arnautovic departs .”

British media reported the transfer fee was around 22 million pounds ($27.6 million).

Relations between West Ham and Arnautovic have been tense since he sought a move to China in January, and got worse this offseason.

Arnautovic leaves despite signing a contract extension in late January. The 30-year-old forward was a club record 20 million pounds ($25 million) signing from Stoke in 2017.

At Shanghai, Arnautovic will join up in attack with former Brazil internationals Hulk and Oscar.

One of Arnautovic’s former Stoke teammates, defender Erik Pieters, returned to the Premier League by joining Burnley on Monday.

Burnley said the 30-year-old Netherlands international signed a two-year deal. The fee was not disclosed.

First Published: Jul 08, 2019 20:49 IST