West Ham chose to sell Marko Arnautovic after becoming concerned he would go on strike.
Arnautovic sealed a 22.5million move to Chinese club Shanghai SiPG on Tuesday with the Hammers fuming at losing money on the deal.
He had slapped in a formal transfer request in a bid to force their hand after Shanghai had tabled a bid of more than 12m less than the Londoners' valuation for the player.
But West Ham had no option but to sell, with manager Manuel Pellegrini and their other players fearing the 30-year-old would allow his commitment to dip as it is claimed he did after he was denied a move to another Chinese Super League club, Guangzhou Evergrande, in January, says the Mirror.
The former Stoke star, wanted to avail himself of the wages of around 200,000-a-week in China and is understood to have sulked after seeing a move vetoed.
