West Ham United are facing a new double striker blow from Italy if new reports are to be believed.
Manuel Pellegrini wants to bring at least two strikers this summer.
It comes after Lucas Perez and Andy Carroll departed the club and with Javier Hernandez also up for sale.
Celta Vigo star Maxi Gomez and Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic were reported to be West Ham’s prime targets (Evening Standard).
Striker light
But recent reports claim neither deal looks likely at this stage.
Other strikers West Ham have been linked with include Salomon Rondon, Daniel Sturridge, Moussa Marega, Edin Dzeko and Duvan Zapata.
Now it appears two of those names, Zapata and Dzeko, can also be scrubbed off the list.
That’s if new reports from Italy are anything to go by.
Double blow for Pellegrini?
According to Sky Sports Italia, Napoli have ‘reached an agreement’ to sign Zapata – who almost joined West Ham under Sam Allardyce.
That move was scuppered by work permit problems.
And this time around it appears the offer of Roberto Inglese – another reported Hammers striker target – in exchange will seal the deal for Napoli to re-sign the Colombian forward.
Hammers at striker crossroads
Meanwhile, there was further bad news for Pellegrini, this time from Milan.
Mediaset claims Inter Milan have agreed to sign experienced Roma striker Dzeko for a fee in the region of £10million.
The Bosnia international has been repeatedly linked with a reunion with Pellegrini at West Ham (Sky Sports).
As a result it now appears the Chilean will have to look elsewhere if indeed he was genuinely interested in the duo in the first place.