Marko Arnautovic’s ever-curious situation at the London Stadium may soon be over, as Corrie dello Sport understands West Ham-linked forward, and expected Austrian replacement, Edin Dzeko will hit the market in the summer.
This latest step comes after the Bosnia-Herzegovina captain was involved in a physical encounter with his AS Roma teammate Stephan El Shaarawy, arising after the Serie A outfit lost their seventh game of the season at the weekend.
Tensions were already high in Rome for the Italian winger, as he had grown frustrated with a lack of action before the club sacked Eusebio Di Francesco, so when Dzeko arrived in the dressing room frustrated at not receiving a pass, the former AC Milan ace reacted angrily in kind.
Heated words were then exchanged between the two, before the intervention of other Roma players prevented a boxing match.
Defeat to relegation-threatened SPAL 2013 now leaves Di Francesco’s successor Claudio Ranieri facing an uphill struggle to qualify for the Champions League, having slipped four points behind the Rossoneri.
The dressing room bust-up for Dzeko and El Shaarawy, though, is expected to throw both their futures into doubt.
Corrie dello Sport now understands that Dzeko will almost certainly leave the Stadio Olimpico in the summer, despite it looking like Roma’s €30million (£25m) price tag was enough to ward off any interest in the 33-year-old hitman – Everton and Inter Milan were also said to be on the chase.
As for El Shaarawy, the 26-year-old had been expected to renew his contract that – like Dzeko’s – expires in 2020, but will now have to wait and see who comes in during the summer to lead the side going forward.
