Former West Ham United defender Tony Gale has stated that he is unsure that Simone Zaza is the striker to fire the club to the next level and questioned why Enner Valencia was allowed to go out on loan to Everton.
The Hammers were in the market for a high-profile new number nine over the course of the summer and ended up bolstering Slaven Bilic’s squad with the addition of Zaza, Jonathan Calleri and Andre Ayew.
Italy international Zaza is on loan from Serie A champions Juventus and has been thrown into the breach in recent games as Andy Carroll remains sidelined through injury.
The former Sassuolo attacker has had an underwhelming start to life at the London Stadium and failed to make an impact in the defeats to Watford and West Brom.
Valencia meanwhile has been brought into Ronald Koeman’s first-team squad and will compete with Romelu Lukkau for a starting berth on Merseyside.
Gale has stated that he has not been impressed with Zaza to date and questioned why Valencia was allowed to depart for a Premier League rival with Bilic’s men short of options in the final third.
“I’m not sure about Zaza. I wasn’t sure before he came to the club, after seeing him play for Juve about eight times,” the pundit told Sky Sports News, which was broadcast on September 20th.
“Valencia has been transferred, and I found that a strange decision, when you haven’t got many strikers.”
West Ham face Accrington Stanley in the EFL Cup tonight before returning to Premier League action for the clash with Southampton this weekend.
