West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini was glad to draw a line under the Marko Arnautovic saga after admitting it had affected their performances.
Austrian forward Arnautovic had his head turned by a big-money move to China and was left out of the squad for the defeat at Bournemouth and Saturday’s FA Cup humiliation at AFC Wimbledon.
But less than half-an-hour after the Wimbledon debacle West Ham suddenly announced that the 29-year-old had signed perhaps the most pointless contract extension ever.
Pellegrini said: “I have a lot of excuses why we lost about Wimbledon, one of those was that the January transfer window can cause damage to the team, for all the issues that a player wants to go, they have other options.
“But I am happy that Marko has finished his issue, he is happy here. I hope that we will have the player that he can be in the coming games.”