Napoli move was on the table for Zaza first, says father

Simone Zaza’s father has revealed the striker only joined West Ham after Napoli declined to sign the striker.

West Ham signed Zaza on a season-long loan deal towards the end of the season with an option to sign for a club-record £25m deal.

However, Zaza’s first preference was to join Napoli and the Italy international only joined the Premier League side after being snubbed by Maurizio Sarri’s side.

“There was a strong contact with Napoli, then we didn’t hear from them, and they did not even explain why,” Zaza’s father, Antonio, told The Daily Mirror.

“I have no problem saying that his proposal was also very important. Then, however, we did not hear anything. Simone has never refused Naples, this must be clear. He would wear more than willingly the blue shirt, anyone to think otherwise.

“Thank god, we were spoilt for choice and there was the important proposal of West Ham, a great project. Simone in Turin was fine, but he decided to change because he was very conscious of there being very little space to play at Juventus  - and his desire was to play more.”

Zaza has scored each of his last 25 league goals every 222.4 minutes.

For more stats on Simone Zaza, click here to visit his WhoScored player page