World Soccer Presents - The Prem Era #2 (2022)

58 THE PREM ERA

generation

MARKO ARNAUTOVIC

Austria & Werder Bremen

The next

DECEMBER 2010: At the end of the first decade of the 21st

century,World Soccerpickedouttheyoungtalents–including

currentandfuturePremierLeaguestars–wholookedset

to dominate the world of football for the next ten years...

THE PLAYERS

Few professional footballers today

can match the 21-year-old Werder

Bremen front-runner for his ability

to polarise opinion. It is almost as if

neutral judgments of him are strictly

forbidden – you either worship at

the altar of his elegance, vast array

of tricks and shooting power, or

demonise him for supposed chronic

inconsistency, ill-discipline on and

offf the pitch, and his disdain for

theconceptoftheteam.

Broug t to the Bundesliga by Werder

Bremen from FC Twente last summer in

a £6 million deal, this Vienna-born son

of a Serbian father and Austrian mother

is certainly a unique talent. A compellinng

combination of height, refinement on the ball

and versatility – he can operate anywhere in

the attacking third – he can, on a good day,

cut the figure of the heir apparent to Eric

Cantona or Zlatan Ibrahimovic. And, according

to former AAuussttrriiaappllaayymmaakkeerrAAnnddyyHHeerrzzoog, he

has world-beater written right through him.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt at all about

his class,” says Herzog, Austria’s most-capped

player.“Inthepast30yearswe’vehadKrankl,

Prohaska, Polster and myself, but Arnautovic

has the potential to be even better.””

The key word here, though, is “potential”.

Arnautovic may have been blessed with rare

ability, but far too often he has not been in

a position to fully exploit it, held back by his

eccentric behaviour and bloody-minded

insistence on doing it his way.

From his earliest days kicking

a ball in the Floridsdorf district of

north Vienna, he has lived up to

the tag of “Marko the Maverick”, an

individual forever tied up in disputes

and controversy. While in the junior

ranksof hostofVienneseclubs

• Floridsdorfer AC, Austria Vienna,
  First Vienna and Rapid Vienna – he
  drove his coaches to distraction with
  his bad behaviour and wilfulness,
  aannddaattTTwweennttee, wwhhoottooookkaacchhaannccee
  on the17-year-old free spirit in
  2006,hefoundhimselfattheeye
  of a discrimination storm, accused
  by Willem II midfielder Ibrahim
  Kargbo of racist insults. Arnautovic
  vehemently denied the charge and,
  after a Dutch federation investigation
  found no evidence against him, the
  case was dismissed – but damage
  wwaassddoonneettoohhiissrreeppuuttaattiioonn
  nonetheless.
  And he has been up to his usual
  tricks since joining Bremen, ordered
  offf the pitch by coach Thomas Schaaf
  for wildly disputing a decision during
  a training-ground practice match and
  often irritating his team-mates with
  his stubbornness and arrogance. “He
  will have to change his ways,” scowled
  Bremen eteran Torsten Fringgs.
  The last word goes toJose Mourinho, who
  had Arnautovic under his wing at Internazionale
  on loan last season. He was rarely used but the
  Portuguese maestro does seem to have a bit
  of a soft spot for him. “He was a great kid, but
  with the mind of a child,” says Mourinho.
  “He kept turning up for training three
  hours early. I found that remarkable.”
  Nick Bidwell

Arnautovic may

have been blessed

with rare ability,

butfartoooften

he has been held

back byhis

eccentric

behaviour