The striker ended his London Stadium nightmare by joining Valencia on loan this week.
West Ham United flop Simone Zaza has spoken out after completing his exit from the club, admitting that his failed spell in England was his own fault, as quoted by Sky Sports.
Zaza joined Valencia on loan from his parent club Juventus late this weekend, sealing his inevitable exit from the Hammers.
The Italy international had joined the Irons on loan in the summer amid high hopes, but dismally failed to make any lasting impact in England.
Aside from failing to score in any of his 11 appearances, Zaza looked a total misfit for English football, and had not played since the end of November as Slaven Bilic dropped the star to avoid a permanent clause in his loan deal becoming obligatory.
That was an undignified ending to his time in England, but upon escaping to La Liga, Zaza has now revealed that he feels the blame lies solely with himself in a remarkably frank interview.
Zaza said, as quoted by Sky Sports: “It was a very difficult time for me. When I joined from Juventus I was very optimistic, I wanted to experience playing in England because I thought it was the football that I liked and where I could use my qualities.
“Everything started badly from the outset, I think the main blame lies with me because I was not right mentally, I was very negative and in all the things that happened I never saw the positive side.
“There was an atmosphere, a culture very different to mine. That was a problem. Now I’m here [in Spain] I feel bad not to have shown in England what I’m capable of.”
Zaza undoubtedly has talent, and the Premier League can be notoriously difficult to adapt to for foreign players, but ultimately the striker will always be remembered by West Ham fans as a shining example of how exciting signings can go wrong.
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