West Ham United striker Simone Zaza’s miserable year continued with a laughable cameo for Italy which saw the Twitter trolls out in force.
West Ham United’s Simone Zaza looks dejected
Zaza has endured a torrid time in East London and is already being linked with a move away after seven games without even a hint of a goal.
The striker is halfway to triggering West Ham United‘s whopping £25 million obligation to buy him from Juventus but even the player himself has admitted he is struggling.
Slaven Bilic has left him out of the club’s recent games to avoid him edging ever closer to activating that 14-game obligation to buy clause for an eye-watering club record.
He came to England off the back of being the laughing stock of Euro 2016 for that penalty run-up and miss against Germany.
And he has done little to redeem himself since.
Simone Zaza was a late sub for Italy
But his season reached a new low on Saturday night when he was recalled by Italy and stepped off the bench to produce a woeful 10 minute cameo in the 4-0 win over Liechtenstein.
He elected to take on a bicycle kick eight yards out which went horribly wide and then chased the ball halfway around the pitch, won it back, ran towards goal and overhit a pass straight out of play.
Italy’s Simone Zaza holds his face
It was an excruciating moment for a player whose confidence is at rock bottom and there was no hiding place on Twitter where football fans shared the video and commented on Zaza’s performance.
The official Twitter of Italian Football TV posted the video with the message: “Simone Zaza in one video…”
Meanwhile Italian Football Daily’s report on the game included a damning summary of the striker’s cameo in which they gave him a team lowest rating of 4 out of 10.
Zaza has probably played his last game for West Ham
“Continuation of his humiliating miss against Germany in July. Absolutely horrific excuse of a bicycle kick coupled with his wayward pass that killed a promising attack, I couldn’t think of a worse 10 minute cameo,” Italianfootballdaily.com reported.
With Andre Ayew back and Diafra Sakho due back imminently Zaza may well have played his last game for the Hammers.
Especially given Bilic’s daunting fixture list coming up with Tottenham Hotspur, a double header against Manchester United at Old Trafford, a home game against Arsenal and trip to Anfield awaiting him over the next month.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to his performance.
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