Marko Arnautovic trained with West Ham on Tuesday as Manuel Pellegrini attempts to refocus the forward’s mind following a lucrative offer from the Chinese Super League.
Arnautovic was left out of the squad for last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth as the manager did not consider him to be in the right mental state to compete.
Standard Sport revealed on Monday that West Ham had told Arnautovic they were prepared to sell in the summer, but they remained reluctant to do so in January unless their £50million asking price was met. So far, one Chinese club, believed to be champions Shanghai SIPG, have offered about £35m, including a contract worth £300,000 per week for Arnautovic, but that offer was rejected.
Should Arnautovic impress in training, he would then come into contention for Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at League One club AFC Wimbledon.
The first-team squad were given Monday off but were scheduled to return to training on Tuesday.
West Ham will be keen to avoid a repeat of the Dimitri Payet transfer saga in January 2017 that threatened to overshadow their season. The French playmaker was eventually sold to Marseille after saying he would not play for the Hammers.
