Former West Ham forward Marko Arnautovic admits he behaved unprofessionally when he moved to the Chinese Super League, eating unhealthy food and drinking fizzy drinks as he thought the cash flush league would be a breeze.
The Austrian left the Hammers for Shanghai SIPG in a move believed to have boosted his salary from around £130,000 per week to a staggering salary worth over £10 million a year for Shanghai, with his contract running until December 2022.
The former West Ham striker scored in his CSL debut against Chongqing, but then struggled to find his fitness and had a five-match goal drought last season.
The 2018 champions SIPG ended the season in third, following Guangzhou Evergrande and Beijing Guoan.
Arnautovic admitted to Beanyman Sports that he did not take care of himself after his move.
“I underestimated it. I didn’t train. I didn’t look after my body. I was eating. I was drinking fizzy drinks – Sprite, Coca Cola, Fanta – all these sugar drinks that are not good for the body.”
He added: “Eating at wrong times. Not sleeping, because when I came to China it took me about three weeks until I could adapt to the time. I went to bed at 6, 7 o’clock in the morning. I woke up 3, 4 o’clock in the afternoon, went to training, stayed up again all night, eating at wrong times.”