As per a report from Tuttomercatoweb (via Calciomercato) Premier League outfit West Ham United have had a €40 million bid rejected for Colombian forward Duvan Zapata, who is currently on loan at Serie A side Atalanta.
The 27-year-old striker started out his professional career at CD America De Cali back in his homeland of Colombia, before securing a move to Uruguayan outfit Estudiantes in 2011, where he grew in prominence. Having spent two years at the club, Zapata was recruited by Serie A outfit Napoli in the summer of 2013.
Zapata went on to make 54 appearances for the Partenopei, scoring 15 goals and setting up 5 more before securing a two-year loan move away to Udinese in the summer of 2015. With the Zebrette, the striker featured 65 times, netting 19 goals and assisting 9 more and then moved on to Sampdoria in 2017, initially on loan.
Having scored 11 times and registered 6 assists in 32 matches in the 2017-18 term, Sampdoria made the transfer permanent this past summer, only to ship him out on loan to Atalanta.
Till date, the 27-year-old has bagged 17 goals across all competitions and has assisted 5 more as well in just 27 matches. The Colombian forward netted four times against Frosinone last weekend as Atalanta thrashed them 5-0 away from home.
West Ham United are currently stationed in the tenth spot in the Premier League standings, with 31 points from 23 matches. After a dodgy start, the Hammers find themselves on solid ground under new manager Manuel Pellegrini. However, they have, at times, struggled for goals.
Summer signing Felipe Anderson is leading the goalscoring charts for West Ham with 8 strikes in the Premier League, while Marko Arnautovic has bagged 7 strikes in the English top-flight. However, beyond the duo, there haven’t been enough sources of goals for Pellegrini’s side.
Javier Hernandez, who has scored four times in the league, has failed to establish himself under Pellegrini as a regular starter and has attracted interest from La Liga outfit Valencia (h/t Sky Sports), while summer signing Lucas Perez has hardly made a solid impression and Andy Carroll is yet to score a league goal.
Moreover, the current situation surrounding Arnautovic complicates matters further for the East Londoners. And hence, boosting their options in attack in the January window wouldn’t be the worst idea.
And Zapata would provide them with the ideal solution. At 27, the Colombian is in the peak years of his career and has been in excellent form in the ongoing campaign.
The Atalanta forward has the physical attributes to cope with the rough and tumble of the Premier League and would offer the Hammers with a big presence in and around the box, that more creative players like Anderson and Samir Nasri can play off of. Add to that his aerial prowess and top-notch finishing abilities, Zapata has the potential to be an excellent addition to the Hammers’ attack. And that is why they should pursue a deal for the Colombian.
