Premier League duo Newcastle United and West Ham may be offered a second chance to sign Duvan Zapata with Serie A outfit Atalanta ready to sell their long-serving striker in the January transfer window, according to Tuttomercatoweb.
La Dea are a team in transition. With a new generation of young talent emerging in Bergamo, led by the excellent Giovanni Scalvini, this feels like a classic case of ‘out with the old’. Robin Gosens and Remo Freuler have already departed, with Luis Muriel and Ruslan Malinovskyi expected to follow.
TMW, meanwhile, say that a player who has been at the forefront of Atalanta’s hitherto unprecedented success over the last four years may also be dusting off his passport. Zapata is up for sale, presuming an acceptable offer arrives.
Per the Sunday Mirror (10th July, page 76), Atalanta will consider offers of around £15 million.
Newcastle came within touching distance of landing the Colombia international last January, having all-but agreed personal terms before Atalanta backed out (Dean Jones). West Ham were to suffer a similar fate.
“(A deal for Zapata) was done,” Moyes told the Evening Standard. “But (Atalanta), for the last four hours of the window, just disappeared. Shut down.”
Second chance for Newcastle or West Ham to sign Duvan Zapata
Atalanta are unlikely to get cold feet this time around. Zapata, one of their highest earners on £2.5 million-a-year, turns 32 in April. He has also scored just one goal in nine Serie A appearances this season; former Everton and Leicester winger Ademola Lookman now thriving in his place under Gian Piero Gasperini.
Whether the Premier League ship has sailed, as far as Zapata is concerned, only time will tell.
Newcastle are reportedly keeping tabs on potential attacking additions. That is despite the form of Callum Wilson and the £60 million arrival of Alexander Isak. Vitinha and Jonathan David are two names on the Magpies’ radar. Newcastle are prioritising up-and-coming youngsters, however, and 30-something Zapata feels like something of a square peg for a round hole.
West Ham, meanwhile, splashed out for another Serie A targetman over the summer; Gianluca Scamacca.
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