By Wayne Veysey

17th Feb, 2023 | 2:53pm

Sources: Kenwright blocked last-gasp Everton signing after Moshiri had agreed deal

Bill Kenwright intervened to stop Everton signed former West Ham United striker Marko Arnautovic in January after the terms of a deal had been agreed, sources have told Football Insider.

It is believed the Merseysiders had agreed to pay Bologna £2.5million as well as hand the 33-year-old a contract worth £150,000-a-week running for two-and-a-half years.

Goodison owner Farhad Moshiri had authorised the deal late in the window and everything was in place for it to be signed off.

However, longstanding chairman Kenwright is understood to have strongly advised Moshiri from completing the transfer for Arnautovic.

He feared an extremely negative reaction from an already mutinous supporter base towards signing a striker on big money at the tail end of his career.

Arnautovic is remember as a gifted but temperamental player from his Premier League days at West Ham and Stoke between 2013 and 2019.

His departure from West Ham over the first half of 2019 began with a prospective move to China that the club answered with a new contract.

He eventually left for what was then Shanghai SIPG for around £23million a season after being named the club’s player of the year.

Arnautovic has been a free scorer at Bologna and his 17 appearances this term have yielded eight goals but he has only just returned from a six-match injury absence.

Everton failed to sign a single player in January despite selling Anthony Gordon to Newcastle United in a deal worth over £40million.

Multiple moves for attacking captures collapsed including Arnaut Danjuma, who had agreed to join on loan from Villarreal and underwent a medical before Tottenham hijacked the deal at the eleventh hour.

In other news, major update on Johnson’s West Ham future after Everton swoop