West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini has revealed that he took Marko Arnautovic off during this afternoon's Premier League clash with Arsenal due to a back injury.
Arnautovic's future has been the subject of intense speculation in recent days after his agent and brother revealed that he wants to leave the club this month, and he appeared to wave goodbye to the London Stadium when withdrawn in 71st minute.
Pellegrini refused to delve into whether the Austrian might have played his last game for the club but confirmed that his substitution was due to a recurrence of the back problem which forced him off in the FA Cup last weekend.
"Marko felt the same pain in his back that he felt during the cup so it was not good for him to take the risk to continue," Pellegrini told reporters at his post-match press conference.
"He was part of the team and I think that the complete team played very well. Everyone can think what they want to think, but we are just seeing what happens during the game."
West Ham are understood to have turned down a £35m bid for Arnautovic from an unnamed Chinese club.
