Marko Arnautović

Marko Arnautović (Марко Арнаутовић; born 19 April 1989) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Inter Milan, on loan from Bologna, and the Austria national team.

Marko Arnautović was born on 19 April 1989 in Vienna, to a Serbian father and an Austrian mother.

Arnautović is a Serbian Orthodox Christian.

He is married to Sarah, and together they have two daughters, Emilia and Alicia.

During his time spent in Italy and Germany, Arnautović developed a reputation with the media as "the bad boy of Austrian football".

In 1998, he joined FK Austria Wien but behaviour issues saw him change club regularly as in the next six years he played for First Vienna FC 1894, a second spell at FK Austria Wien, SK Rapid Wien before he returned to Floridsdorfer AC.

Arnautović began his career in his native Austria playing in the youth teams for a number of clubs in the Vienna area before he signed a contract with Dutch club Twente in 2006.

Despite this he was scouted by Dutch club FC Twente who signed him in 2006.

He then played for Jong FC Twente between 2006 and 2008, appearing in 32 matches and scoring 27 goals.

Arnautović made his professional debut for FC Twente in the 2006–07 season as a substitute for Kennedy Bakircioglu against PSV Eindhoven in April 2007.

Arnautović scored 22 goals in 24 matches for the Under-19 FC Twente in the 2007–08 season, helping them win the youth championship.

He made 16 appearances in 2007–08 as Twente finished in fourth position and qualified for the UEFA Champions League.

He impressed at De Grolsch Veste and after a fine 2008–09 season he joined Italian giants Inter Milan on loan, where he made only three appearances due to injury.

A full international with over 110 caps for Austria since 2008, Arnautović is the most-capped and second highest scoring player in the history of the national team, and helped the side qualify for the UEFA European Championship in 2016 and 2020.

In July 2008, he extended his contract with Twente despite interest from Dutch giant Feyenoord.

In the 2008–09 season Arnautović scored 14 goals in 41 matches as Twente finished 2nd in the Eredivisie and reached the knock out phase of the UEFA Cup.

In March 2009 after a league match against Willem II, one of Twente opponents, Ibrahim Kargbo, accused Arnautović of racially abusing him.

After an investigation by the Dutch Football Association they found no evidence against him and the case was dismissed.

On 4 August 2009, it was said that Arnautović was on the verge of a move to Italian giants Inter Milan.

The deal had been largely held up due to a stress fracture in Arnautović's right foot, leading to a re-negotiation of the deal between the clubs.

On 6 August, it was announced by Twente that the details for the loan had been finalised, Arnautović would join Inter on loan for the season.

The deal was said to become permanent if he was to play a set number of matches.

If the deal did not become permanent the player would return to Twente on a pre-agreed contract of two years, with an option to extend the contract for a third year.

He made his unofficial debut for Inter in a friendly match on 5 September 2009 against Swiss team, Lugano, the final score was 3–3.

He joined German side Werder Bremen in June 2010 and became a regular member of the first-team.

He made his league debut in a 1–0 away victory against Chievo on 6 January 2010.

He played in their next match against Siena coming on as a substitute at half time for the injured Dejan Stanković and helped Inter to win the match 4–3.

He played one more match for Inter against Atalanta on 24 April 2010.

At the end of the season Inter decided against turning his loan in a permanent move with manager José Mourinho stating that Arnautović "is a fantastic person but has the attitude of a child".

On 4 June 2010, Bundesliga club Werder Bremen confirmed that they had signed Arnautović from Twente on a four-year deal.

Before he had played a match for Bremen he irked their captain Torsten Frings who branded him as "arrogant".

He made his Bundesliga debut on 21 August 2010 in a 4–1 defeat against Hoffenheim.

Arnautović scored twice against 1. FC Köln on 28 August 2010, his first goals for Bremen.

In September 2013, Arnautović joined English side Stoke City, where he scored 26 goals in 145 appearances.

Speaking on the matter in October 2013, he admitted he was "not an angel" but insisted that the birth of his daughter had made him "grow up."

Arnautović began his career with his brother Danijel at Floridsdorfer AC.

He joined West Ham United in July 2017 for a fee of £20 million and won the Hammer of the Year award in his debut season.

He was named Austrian Footballer of the Year in 2018.

He scored 22 goals in 65 games for West Ham over two seasons before joining Shanghai SIPG (now Shanghai Port) for £22.4 million in July 2019.

Arnautović returned to Europe to join Italian club Bologna in August 2021.