Transfer rumour mill says McClaren wants Arnautovic

VfL Wolfsburg boss Steve McClaren has reportedly set his sights on Werder Bremen star Marko Arnautovic as Edin Dzeko is about to leave the club to join Manchester City.The 24-year-old Bosnian is expected to sign with the Premiership giants for around 35 million Euros later this week, and German sport press claim today (Weds) Arnautovic could join Wolfsburg to replace the striker.The Austrian national team ace joined Werder from Italian club Inter for around seven million Euros ahead of the current season. While having become a crowd favourite among many fans, others criticise his behaviour on and off the pitch as arrogant.Arnautovic, 21, angered Werder coach Thomas Schaaf and the club’s executive manager Klaus Allofs by recently calling the club a “Saftladen”, which is German for “dump”.McClaren and Arnautovic cooperated at Dutch side Twente Enschede before the striker left to join Inter in what turned out to be a doomed spell in 2009.Former Werder captain and current Austrian Under-21s national team boss Andreas Herzog recently claimed Arnautovic was “Austria’s biggest talent in 30 years”, while an increasing number of commentators warned the player would fail to match the high expectations.Wolfsburg are currently only in 13th in the 18-team German Bundesliga, while 14th-placed Bremen also look back on a disastrous first half of the season.Meanwhile, Christoph Knasmüllner said he will leave Bayern Munich. The Austrian midfielder explained yesterday (Tues) his agent is in touch with clubs competing in the Italian Serie A over a transfer. The 18-year-old striker joined the 2001 UEFA Champions League winners from Austria Vienna two years ago.His announcement comes only days after Bayern rivals TSG 1899 Hoffenheim announced Austrian national team midfielder David Alaba, 18, will join them for the remainder of the current season from Bayern.Sixteen Austrians are under contract with top-flight German clubs after struggling Borussia Mönchengladbach signed ex-VfB Stuttgart defender Martin Stranzl from Russian giants FC Spartak Moscow.