Stick West Ham’s Zaza in your Fantasy Team – He’ll net at least 15 goals

At last West Ham United have a new striker! After months, and months of speculation, the Hammers finally secured a forward in Simone Zaza from Juventus, and I believe it will prove to be an inspired move.

His penalty versus Germany aside, what I have seen from Zaza has impressed me a great deal, when he stepped onto the London Stadium pitch in August to play for Juventus against the Hammers in our inaugural opening, I paid close attention to him knowing that the Irons were keen on the Italian.

Low and behold, he bagged a late winner for the visitors. He picked up a long ball from the back, left the Hammers backline for dead before slotting the ball past Adrian in the West Ham goal.

I was suitably impressed and from that point on, I wanted us to sign him.

Whilst his record in Italy may not scream success at you, you don’t secure a move to Juventus if you’re poor. He flitted around Italy somewhat, enjoying a spell in Tuscany in the lower echelons of the Italian leagues, before securing a move to Serie B with Ascoli.

It was at Ascoli where his career really took off, he bagged 18 goals in 35 appearances in the Italian second division, a record that secured him a move to the Old Lady, via Sassuolo. Having played 64 games for Sassuolo scoring 20 goals in the process, Juventus finally decided to take a punt on him.

But he struggled to make any real impact in Turin, understandably so with the likes of Alvaro Morata, Mario Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala ahead of him in the pecking order. He did manage to achieve a one in four goalscoring recordthough during his time in Turin, which is no mean feat.

Zaza, obviously, enjoyed a great deal of success during his time with Juventus winning a couple of league titles and I hope he brings that winning mentality to the London Stadium and to West Ham. We don’t have enough natural winners in our team, and if he could bring that to the table it can only improve us as a club.

Whilst his move may only be stated as a loan, I think everyone knows this is a long-term signing for the Hammers and it shows a real statement of intent from the club in splashing more cash on a forward after the Andre Ayew purchase.

West Ham’s latest striking addition, Zaza, in action for Italy against Republic of Ireland at Euro 2016 – Photo: Mark Leech / Offside.

Zaza, I am sure will be a great success here, and it certainly shouldn’t take him long to hit the ground running, he will be no stranger to our new home having already played there and with Watford to come to our new home next, I wouldn’t bet against the Italian opening his account on his debut.

From what I have seen of the 25-year-old; he is quick, strong, bullish in his nature and has a wicked left peg on him, he has all the attributes to be a quality Premier League forward, and he could well prove to be the missing link in this West Ham United side. I just hope Mark Noble stays on penalties after seeing that never ending run-up at the Euros!

I will stick my neck out here and predict he will hit at least 15 goals this season for the Hammers. So stick him in your fantasy teams now!

Come on you Irons!