West Ham United reportedly attempted to bring Atalanta’s red-hot Serie A striker Zapata to the Premier League during the January transfer window.
There may have been a collective raising of the eyebrows in and around the London Stadium when the Bergamo Post claimed in January that West Ham United had made a £35 million bid for Duvan Zapata.
At the age of 27, the Colombian international has never been a household name. He has been playing in Italy’s top flight since 2013 too and his best ever tally in all competitions was a far from outstanding 11 goals.
This season, however, Zapata has exploded in quite remarkable, and unexpected, style.
Fresh from scoring four in Atalanta’s hammering of Frosinone and notching a clinical brace as Gian Piero Gasperini’s free-flowing side thumped Juventus 3-0 in the Copa Italia semi-finals, Zapata continued his outstanding run of form by scoring in Sunday’s 1-1 goal against Roma.
In total, Zapata has scored a career-best 20 goals in 29 games this season. To make that tally even more eye-catching, Zapata has now hit the back of the net 18 times in his last ten games.
With that in mind, no one should be questioning the logic of West Ham offering £35 million now.
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