West Ham United need a prolific goal-scorer if they want to challenge the Premier League top six. How about Atalanta’s Serie A star Zapata?
If West Ham United want to sign Duvan Zapata this summer, they have no choice but to pay up.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the Hammers offered £35 million for Atalanta’s Colombian goal machine during the January transfer window. £45 million, however, could be enough to convince the Bergamo-based outfit to sell.
Such a fee would make Felipe Anderson look like relative peanuts, catapulting Zapata into the record books as West Ham’s most expensive signing of all time.
But if you ask any West Ham fan, they will tell you that a powerful, aggressive, reliable goalscorer is absolutely priceless? Davids Gold and Sullivan should pay that extra £10 million with their eyes shut.
Zapata enjoyed the best season of his career in 2018/19, plundering 28 goals in all competitions. With Atalanta looking forward to playing Champions League football for the first time next season, they have the former Napoli and Udinese man to thank.
Zapata was the missing link Atalanta needed, an unstoppable goal-scoring force who turned a talented squad into a fearsome winning machine.
And it is not an exaggeration to suggest he could have a similar impact at West Ham.
There were times last season when Manuel Pellegrini’s side looked one top class centre-forward away from being a potentially outstanding team. And after adding Pablo Fornals to Manuel Lanzini, Anderson and the returning Andriy Yarmolenko, Zapata could be the final piece of the jigsaw.
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