West Ham may well have had a lucky escape after failing to sign Atalanta striker Duvan Zapata in January as news emerged about a serious injury he’s suffered.
Sky Sports claimed that the Hammers submitted a deal sheet to the Premier League to bring the Colombian hitman to the London Stadium on loan, but eventually failed to get the transfer over the line.
Corriere Bergamo then claimed that the Serie A outfit rejected a £27 million bid from West Ham because it was quite simply too late on in the window to bring in a replacement.
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At the time, the West Ham fans were really angry that David Moyes didn’t manage to sign Zapata. On the face of it, the 30-year-old has everything needed to succeed for the Hammers in the Premier League.
The South American stands at 6ft 2in tall, and possesses an impressive build and physique. He is strong as an ox and has pace in abundance.
The 30-year-old striker has been in fine form in Italy this season, racking up 12 goals and seven assists in 22 games for Atalanta. He also boasts a decent career record of 149 goals in 379 games (Transfermarkt).
It seems as though we may have dodged a bullet though…
Lucky escape for West Ham as striker news emerges
Duvan Zapata could be out for three months according to Gazzetta dello Sport after suffering an adductor injury.
It would have been so typically West Ham to have signed the 30-year-old for a big money fee in January and then to lose him for the rest of the season through injury.
Not signing Zapata now looks like a really lucky escape.
That doesn’t mean that we were right not to have signed a striker in January through. Having Michail Antonio as our only option through the middle will undoubtedly come back to haunt us between now and the end of the season.
The fact that Zapata has suffered an injury is nothing to cheer about. It’s a touch of good fortune that we didn’t sign him, sure. But that shouldn’t gloss over the fact that Moyes didn’t bring anyone else in.
Whether you blame the owners or the Scot for the lack of new arrivals at the London Stadium is up to you.
The bottom line is that West Ham failed to bring anyone in. And that quite clearly isn’t acceptable given how much of a chance we had to crack the top four this season.
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