From Italy: West Ham transfer could happen in January, first contacts made

Even after six appearances and no goals at West Ham, Simone Zaza is still managing to attract the interest from big European clubs.

It’s now Napoli who are working on a deal for him, according to exclusive news from TuttoMercatoWeb.

The Italian website claims that the first contacts have already been made and the signing is a real possibility for the January market.

Napoli’s interest isn’t exactly new, as Zaza’s name has been linked with the club since Arkadiusz Milik got injured earlier this month.

So maybe what Tutto Mercato Web mean by ‘exclusive’ is to say that the transfer could be more likely after these first calls.

Zaza is at West Ham on loan from Juventus. The Hammers must pay €20m for a permanent signing at the end of the season in case the player reaches 10 appearances.

So this is obviously a complex deal as Napoli must convince Juventus, West Ham and Zaza to make an agreement.

The consensus in the Italian media would be that as the player isn’t scoring goals at West Ham, the club would like to see him leave quickly so they won’t need to sign him at the end of the season.

But we’re still to see a word from the Hammers on the matter, so maybe that’s just a wrong assumption to make.

TuttoMercatoWeb can’t say who Napoli have called, so the negotiations are probably still in really early stages.