West Ham United hold an advantage over the other teams interested in Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata, as the player would favour a move to London, according to a new report.
As per TuttoMercatoWeb, Everton recently entered talks to sign Zapata, with the Toffees eyeing an initial loan deal, however it was later detailed that Atalanta are only interested in a permanent sale.
In the same report, it is also claimed that Nottingham Forest hold an interest in the Colombian, so a transfer battle could emerge between the relegation-threatened Premier League clubs, however West Ham have now been tipped as having an advantage.
According to a report from The Daily Mail, West Ham are now battling for the 31-year-old’s signature, having made an enquiry to Atalanta about signing him in the January transfer window.
The forward is said to be valued at £25m by the Serie A club, and the player himself would prefer a move to the capital, should he leave Italy, handing the Hammers a key advantage.
TIF thoughts on Duvan Zapata to West Ham United…
While he has not hit the ground running during this campaign, the 6 foot 2 marksman has been simply phenomenal in the Serie A for a number of years, hitting double figures for goals in the Italian top flight for the last six seasons, including ten in 24 games last term.
Hailed as a ‘freight train of a striker’ by Matteo Bonetti, one of the forward’s key attributes is his physicality, while he also dominates aerial battles, having won an average of 3.63 balls in the air per 90 over the past year, placing him in the 86th percentile compared to other strikers.
David Moyes is in dire need of a new option in attack, given that his side are the joint-second lowest scorers in the Premier League, and by bringing in Zapata they would be signing a proven goal-scorer, undoubtedly capable of firing them to safety.