Comeback Kid Marko Is Proving His West Ham Doubters Wrong

Arnautovic has found his mojo in London and can become a cult hero for us

- Greg Richardson

The date is November 9, 2017, and a news headline reads: ‘West Ham happy for David Moyes to sell Marko Arnautovic four months after he was club record buy’.

Now aside from feeling that the headline hardly pops, there would have been few Hammers fans who would have disagreed with the sentiment.

In the seven games he had played under former manager Slaven Bilic, the Austrian had registered no goals, no assists, been sent off and largely failed to have an impact anywhere other than on Jack Stephen’s face.

Fast forward a few months and the contrast couldn’t be more stark. Including and up to the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth, under Moyes, Arnie has registered six goals and four assists in 12 games.

He was nominated for the December Premier League Player of the Month and has basically been unplayable in large parts, drawing (admittedly with a large pinch of salt) comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo.

The transformation has been incredible and David Moyes deserves a hell of a lot of credit. But how has this metamorphosis from unwanted flop to near hero like status been achieved?

There is of course the obvious gauntlet that Moyes threw down upon his arrival in east London: ‘If you don’t run, you don’t play’.

But there is far more to it than simply running. Moyes has found a way to utilise the considerable skill set and overcome the shortcomings of our record signing.