Hammers fans are still waiting for Simone Zaza to showcase his oft-discussed quality but, if his agent is to be believed, they might never get that chance.
The agent and father of struggling West Ham striker Simone Zaza has admitted to Calciomercato that there is no guarantee that the Italian international will remain at the London Stadium beyond the January transfer window.
Zaza arrived this summer amid huge on a season-long loan deal from Italian champions Juventus, having started only five Serie A league games in 2015/16 despite posting a remarkable goals-per-game ratio.
However, notwithstanding slight improvements in his performance level in recent weeks and an impressive work rate that has earned him the respect, if not the admiration, of many Hammers fans, the Italian’s failure to hit the back of the net so far this season has the majority wishing the club had tied up a deal for the likes of Carlos Bacca (below) or Alexandre Lacazette instead.
Consequently, Zaza’s agent and father, Antonio, has revealed that the 25-year-old is weighing up his options after being left out of Giampiero Ventura’s most recent Italy squad.
“It’s difficult to predict,” Antonio Zaza told Calciomercato. “I can’t ensure that he’s going to stay at the club until the end of the season, nor I can’t say that he’s definitely going to leave.
“We need to analyse the situation.”
He also admitted that his son and client would jump at the chance of a potential return to Serie A with AC Milan or Napoli, the latter having tracked Zaza this summer and now desperate for a new centre-forward having lost Arkadiusz Milik to a long-term injury.
Football Italia revealed last month that West Ham had agreed to make Zaza’s temporary deal permanent for £17.5 million once he had made 15 appearances for the London club, meaning they were considering cutting short his loan in order to avoid fulfilling the agreement.
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