As things stand, Simone Zaza is likely heading for Spain.
The player’s father explained on Tuesday he was yet to receive any offer from Italy for his son, and Valencia were one of the teams still in talks to take the West Ham striker this January.
With Slaven Bilic now having to deal with additional problems such as Dimitri Payet and Sofiane Feghouli, the earlier the Italian striker is gone, the better for the London club.
Gazzetta dello Sport report on Thursday that while Valencia are still the favourites, Villarreal have also been thrown into the mix for the Juventus loanee, who certainly provide a more attractive option than Gary Neville’s former team, currently 17th in La Liga.
The Italian newspaper report there’s a chance representatives from Valencia will meet Simone Zaza today in order to convince him to leave the Hammers and join them, as well as striking a deal with Juventus.
The Serie A champions want to ensure they get rid of the player at the end of the season, and Valencia’s demands of setting the compulsory buy-out clause to be triggered after 10 appearances doesn’t fill them with confidence.
After all, we all saw what happened at West Ham once they realised he wasn’t good enough for them and were due to pay Juventus £20m after three more appearances.
It’s getting closer and closer, and things should speed up in the next couple of days, with Gazzetta relaying Zaza’s father as saying they will make a decision ‘in the next 48 hours’.
