Shanghai SIPG striker Marko Arnautovic ‘underestimated’ the Chinese Super League
- Fondness for fizzy drinks and bad sleeping habits saw now prolific striker struggle to get to to grips with CSL on arrival
- Austrian international has scored five goals in eight games this season after working on his fitness
Marko Arnautovic has admitted that he did not take the Chinese Super League seriously enough when he arrived from English Premier League side West Ham United last summer.
The Austria striker joined Shanghai SIPG for £23 million (US$30.8 million) in July 2019 but he underestimated the league, he said in an interview, as reported by Beanyman Sports.
“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,” the 31-year-old said, while with his team in the CSL’s Suzhou bubble.
“Eating at wrong times. Don’t sleep, 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.”
The former Inter Milan, Stoke City and Werder Bremen forward has scored five times in eight games since the CSL started its coronavirus delayed 2020 season in July.
Arnautovic, who scored another in Shanghai SIPG’s 4-1 win over Tianjin Teda on Monday night, admitted he had to knuckle down.