Marko Arnautović

Marko Arnautović (Serbian Cyrillic: Марко Арнаутовић, German pronunciation: [ˈmaʁkoː aʁˈnaʊtovɪtʃ]; born 19 April 1989) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Stoke City and the Austria national team.

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. He impressed at De Grolsch Veste and after a fine 2008–09 season he joined Italian giants Internazionale on loan, where he made only three appearances due to injury. He joined German side Werder Bremen in June 2010 and became a regular member of the first team. In September 2013 Arnautović joined English side Stoke City.

A full international for Austria since 2008, he helped the nation to qualify for UEFA Euro 2016.

Arnautović was born in Floridsdorf, a district in the northern part of Vienna to a Serbian father and an Austrian mother.

Early career

Arnautović began his career with his brother Danijel at Floridsdorfer AC. 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. Despite this he was scouted by Dutch club FC Twente who signed him in 2006.

Twente

Arnautović scored 22 goals in 24 games for the Under-19 FC Twente in the 2007–08 season, helping them win the youth championship. He then played for Jong FC Twente between 2006 and 2008, appearing in 32 games and scoring 27 goals. Arnautović made his professional debut for FC Twente in the 2006–07 season as a substitute for Kennedy Bakircioglü against PSV Eindhoven in April 2007. In July 2008, he extended his contract with Twente despite interest from Dutch giants Feyenoord.

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

Internazionale (loan)

On 4 August 2009, it was said that Arnautović was on the verge of a move to Italian giants Internazionale. The deal had been largely held up due to a stress fracture in Arnautovic'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 Milan in a friendly game on 5 September 2009 against Swiss team, Lugano, the final score was 3–3.

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 and José Mourinho stated that Arnautović "is a fantastic person but has the attitude of a child".

Werder Bremen

Arnautović training with Werder Bremen in 2010

On 4 June 2010, German 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. He ended the 2010–11 season at the Weserstadion with five goals in 34 appearances as Bremen finished in 13th position and he also played in the Champions League. In 2011–12 he scored six goals in 20 appearances as Bremen finished in ninth position. In March 2012, he was ruled out for two months with a knee ligament injury he suffered whilst playing with his dog.

In 2012–13, Arnautović played in 27 matches and scored five goals which included a hat-trick on 2 December 2012 away at Hoffenheim, including an impressive free kick, as Bremen won 4–1. In April 2013, Arnautović and his Bremen team-mate Eljero Elia were caught speeding and were both suspended by the club.

Stoke City

On 2 September 2013, Arnautović joined Premier League side Stoke City on a four-year contract for a fee of £2 million. He was assigned the number 10 shirt by manager Mark Hughes who also described his signing as a coup—"People will very quickly see what an outstanding talent he is. In terms of his power and his pace, which is something I think we need in the squad, he ticks all the boxes. Technically he's excellent and I'm really looking forward to working with him. I think it's quite a coup to get him here. It made sense to us and made sense to him that this is the right club for him. He's got a real desire to make an impression." Arnautović made his Stoke debut twelve days later in a 0–0 draw against Manchester City at the Britannia Stadium. After spending a month at the club, manager Hughes stated that Arnautović had adapted well to English football after being give a free-role in the side. On 26 October, he scored his first goal for Stoke, a 25-yard free-kick in a 3–2 defeat against Manchester United. Arnautović ended his first season in England with five goals in 35 appearances, and the team finished in ninth position in the Premier League.

After making little impact in the first few matches of the 2014–15 season, Arnautović lost his place in the side. He regained his form towards the end of the campaign and returned to a regular place. He scored once in 29 league appearances over the campaign: an 95th-minute equaliser against West Ham United on 11 April 2015, having earlier in the match had two goals disallowed for offside. He played 35 times in 2014–15 as Stoke finished in ninth position.

Arnautović's first appearance of the 2015–16 season came in a 2–2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on 15 August, scoring the team's first goal as they came back from 2–0 down. He scored the only goal of Stoke's victory over champions Chelsea on 7 November, and both goals against Manchester City on 5 December in a 2–0 home victory. On 28 December, Arnautović won a last-minute penalty kick against Everton at Goodison Park when he was fouled by John Stones, and sent it past goalkeeper Tim Howard to win the match 4–3. He scored the only goal of the League Cup semi-final second leg against Liverpool on 26 January 2016, forcing a penalty shootout which his team eventually lost. Arnautović went on to play 40 times for Stoke in 2015–16, top-scoring with 12 goals as the Potters again finished in ninth position.

Arnautović signed a new four-year contract with Stoke in July 2016, keeping him contracted with the Potters until the summer of 2020.

Arnautović playing for Austria in August 2013

Arnautović played with the Austrian under-19 side in the 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship where he was sent-off in their second match and failed to make it out of the group stage. After scoring three goals in five matches for the Austria U21s, Arnautović earned praise from manager Andreas Herzog who described him the best Austrian footballer of 30 years.

Arnautović played his first match for the Austria national senior team on 11 October 2008 against the Faroe Islands. He scored his first goals for Austria in a 3–0 win over Azerbaijan on 8 October 2010.

Arnautović started in all ten of Austria's matches during their successful UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, scoring in a win over Montenegro and both fixtures against neighbours Liechtenstein.

Arnautović is an Orthodox Christian. He is married to Sarah (née Lizakowski), and together they have a daughter, Emilia. During his time spent in Italy and Germany, Arnautović developed a bad reputation with the media and is viewed by them as "the bad boy of Austrian football". Speaking on the matter in October 2013, he admitted he is "not an angel" but insists the birth of his daughter has made him "grow up."

Club

International

International goals

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	8 October 2010	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	6	Azerbaijan	2–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
2					3–0
3	12 October 2010	King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium	7	Belgium	2–1	4–4	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
4	9 February 2011	Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands	9	Netherlands	1–3	1–3	Friendly
5	2 September 2011	Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany	12	Germany	1–3	2–6	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
6	1 June 2012	Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck, Austria	18	Ukraine	2–1	3–2	Friendly
7					3–2
8	27 March 2015	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein	41	Liechtenstein	5–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
9	9 October 2015	Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica, Montenegro	46	Montenegro	2–2	3–2	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
10	12 October 2015	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	47	Liechtenstein	1–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
11	31 May 2016	Wörthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, Austria	51	Malta	1–0	2–1	Friendly
12	6 October 2016	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	57	Wales	1–1	2–2	2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying
13					2–1
14	24 March 2017	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	61	Moldova	1–0	2–0	2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying
15	28 March 2017	Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck, Austria	62	Finland	1–0	1–1	Friendly