Pundit Ian Wright has stated that West Ham United were wrong to conclude a loan deal for Simone Zaza and instead should have pursued a deal to sign Charlie Austin.
The Hammers were in the market for a new centre forward in the summer but struggled to lure in a number of big names from overseas.
Zaza joined on a loan deal from Juventus close to the end of the transfer window, with his deal initially temporary but Slaven Bilic’s men have the option to buy the Italian at the end of the season.
However, the former Sassoulo centre forward has struggled to come to grips with Premier League football, with some underwhelming performances in his early days in London and no goals to date.
Austin meanwhile has come into a bit of form at Southampton and is playing a role in Claude Puel’s men pushing higher up the table.
The Englishman scored against West Ham in the 3-0 defeat on Sunday and Wright believes that the former Queens Park Rangers man would have been a preferable option to Zaza.
“You look at West Ham, and he’s exactly what they need,” Wright said on The Sun’s podcast.
“What they’ve done is, they’ve paid £5m for Zaza to maybe pay £20m more? Charlie Austin has got experience, he can score. You saw the movement, the way he held the ball up, and the way he linked play up, I’m delighted for him.”
