Simone Zaza move becomes permanent after 14 appearances

Simone Zaza has started life at West Ham in a fairly subdued fashion.

He’s made five appearances since signing on a season-long loan from Serie A champions Juventus and has failed to score (or even look like scoring) in those games.

West Ham were eager to bring in a big name striker to the club this summer to help take them to the next level. Carlos Bacca was a guy Slaven Bilic tried and failed to persuade to join, as was Michy Batshuayi, while Alexandre Lacazette remained a pipe dream.

So here we are, five games into Simone Zaza’s loan spell, entirely unenthralled by his performances to date, knowing that along the road a clause will be triggered and he signs permanently for a reported £20m.

The Hammers paid Juventus £5m to sign Zaza on loan, which contained an obligatory purchase option if he made an undisclosed number of appearances for West Ham – which Jack Sullivan has revealed on Twitter today is 14 appearances.

We are just nine appearances away from signing the Italian international in a £20m deal on a long-term contract – and he doesn’t look worth half that at the minute.

Of course, he could turn it round, settle in and start scoring goals for fun. At the moment, though, that looks just as unlikely as Lacazette’s proposed summer transfer to East London.

Time will tell if, firstly, Zaza reaches that 14 game milestone, and if he actually proves his worth. Given our current predicament, I hope it’s soon.