Manuel Pellegrini Reveals Why He Didn’t Include Marko Arnautovic Against Bournemouth

Manuel Pellegrini has insisted his decision to not to include Marko Arnautovic in the last match against Bournemouth as the forward was facing a hard time in concentrating on football since his link up with a move to China.

Arnautovic has been at the centre of attraction since the Hammers received a bid from Chinese Super League outfit Shanghai SIPG. They quoted an amount of £35m for the centre forward which was immediately rejected by the London giants.

The 29 year old reportedly has his soul set for a transfer to China but with the Hammers eyeing a finish in the top half of the Premier League table they are unlikely to let him leave in this winter transfer window.

Pellegrini believes the player didn’t have the right mindset to feature in the 2-0 loss to Bournemouth. “Marko has his head on another issue so I thought it was not a good idea for him to play today.

“I don’t think we need to continue talking about players that are not in the squad in this moment. I never complain about players who are not here.

“We couldn’t win and, if Marko Arnautovic didn’t play, we have another player that must do it.”