Graziano Pelle has agreed a six-month deal with Parma after West Ham United’s interest in the former Italy international dried up, as reported by Sky Italia.
The list of strikers linked with a January switch to the London Stadium is longer than one of Peter Crouch’s legs.
But, despite well-publicised interest in Youssef En-Nesyri, Boulaye Dia, Gaetan Laborde, Olivier Giroud and more, only one player arrived to boost David Moyes’ Champions League-chasing squad before Monday’s transfer deadline – attacking midfielder Jesse Lingard.
Suddenly the Premier League’s surprise packages are facing up to the prospect of four months of football with only one first-team striker – the injury-prone Michail Antonio.
And with Pelle now off the market, West Ham can’t even turn to him if Antonio is once again consigned to a spell on the sidelines in the near future.
According to Sky Italia, the 35-year-old has agreed to join relegation-threatened Parma on a six-month deal after his £260,000-a-week contract with Shandong Luneng expired.
Pelle certainly has unfinished business at the Stadio Ennio Tardini. He scored just once in 12 matches during an ill-fated spell with I Gialloblu almost a decade ago and, if Parma are to escape the drop zone, they will need their prodigal son to do better than that second time around.
“A player like him is definitely a great opportunity for us,” owner Kyle Krause tells Calciomercato.
Why West Ham decided against signing a striker who impressed in the Premier League with Southampton and was once described as an “excellent forward” by Antonio Conte is anyone’s guess.
Perhaps they felt it would be more beneficial investing time and effort in teenager Mipo Odubeko than handing a hefty, short-term contract to a man who may have been little more than a quick fix.
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