Marko Arnautovic: Premier League's new bad boy?

Marko Arnautovic in action during the FIFA 2014 World Cup Group C qualifier between Republic of Ireland and Austria at Aviva Stadium on March 26, 2013 in Dublin, Ireland. (Getty Images)

Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words. After Marko Arnautovic had been sold to Stoke City at the end of the transfer window, Werder Bremen posted a note on the club’s official website, bidding him a friendly goodbye.

The accompanying photo didn’t show the Austrian striker in action for Werder, however, nor in any particular good light at all, come to think of it: Arnautovic was pictured in a grey jacket, with huge sun glasses, his ear pressed to a mobile phone. To top it all off, his puzzled facial expression – think John Heder in “Napoleon Dynamite” – wasn’t too flattering either.

The message was clear: Arnautovic was never a real Werder player, perhaps never a real player at all; too easily distracted with off the pitch matters, not focused enough. The Bundesliga club were so keen to get rid of the 24-year-old that they accepted Stoke’s bargain offer of £2m; Arnautovic had become too much trouble.

To paraphrase that famous line in Top Gun, his ego had been writing too many checks that his boots hadn’t been able to cash. 14 goals and ten assists in 72 league games has been a poor return for a player who cost Werder £6.5m when they bought him from FC Twente in 2010.

Looking back, his was exactly the sort of botched transfer that has seen the northerners slipping down in the Bundesliga pecking order in recent years. They couldn’t afford to get such big investments wrong, but they did. Cashing in – even at such a low fee – was the best thing they could this summer.

Arnautovic had turned down an offer to go to Dynamo Kiev in January and was threatening to leave Werder for free next summer. His contract at the Weserstadion would have been up in July 2014. “Nobody will miss him at Werder,” wrote Welt newspaper.

Tabloid reporters will miss him very much, however. It’s well documented that the Vienna-born forward was a fountain of scandals and incidents, verging from getting caught speeding on the Autobahn at 3am in the morning to insulting a Vienna police man with the immortal line: “Shut up, I earn so much I can buy your life”.

Arnautovic later apologised (“I was emotionally stressed because my girlfriend was pregnant”) and gave the officer two tickets for an Austria match. Decidedly macho-musings about his ideal woman (“tattoos and silicone”) didn’t do much for his public standing either.

Much more problematic that his views were his lack of professionalism, however: Arnautovic repeatedly stayed out too long, frequented too many nightclubs and was battling weight problems. He came dangerously close to being seen as a caricature of football pro.

An Austrian radio comedian phoned him in the national team hotel, pretending to be Austria coach Didi Constantini. “You’ve been watching too many pornos, you’ll be thrown out of the team,” the fake Constantini said. “I swear on my mother coach, I’m going to sleep, I ‘m fit. I will perform,” replied a clearly flustered Arnautovic.

Where did it all go wrong, is the usual question at this juncture. The problem is: it’s never quite gone right for Arnautovic. His behavioural issues predate the Werder days; even as a teenager in Vienna, there was a succession of fall outs with different clubs. But his talent was such that there was always another club to take the risk.

Arnautovic signed for Twente in Holland aged 17 and was loaned to Inter in 2009-2010, the year of the Italian club’s Champions League win under José Mourinho. The Portuguese manager tried in vain to get best out of the son of Serbian immigrants and ruefully described the players as “fantastic person with the attitude of a child”.

Arnautovic didn’t seem too perturbed by his failure in Serie A – he turned up at Werder with “Champions League winner” stitched into his boots, despite not having played a single game for Inter in the competition.

Now Mark Hughes has become the latest manager to try his hand. The potential rewards are immense: Arnautovic has often been described as the Austrian Zlatan Ibrahimovic, because he plays in a similar style. He’s strong but quite quick, and technically very good.

But will Hughes succeed where others have failed and manage to get into Arnautovic’s head? It’ll be fascinating to see. Very few new Premier League recruits promise so much for so little money. In “money-ball” terms: the upside is huge.

Saturday’s game vs. Manchester City will provide an early opportunity to chart Arnautovic’s first steps towards getting his career back in track. Some optimism appears warranted at this stage. To herald his arrival, Stoke posted up a picture of him in club shirt, looking a lot leaner and straight down the camera, determined to make an impact.