West Ham United may very well be wasting their money if they decide to chase after Duvan Zapata in the summer transfer window.
West Ham United’s interest in the Colombian stems back to this past January transfer window, and according to reports, they were close to making him a Hammer, but ultimately didn’t leave enough time to get the deal done.
According to reports in Italy (via Sport Witness) from earlier this week, the club could look to make the deal happen again, as they state: “The Colombian is West Ham’s first choice for the attack and in the summer he could say goodbye to Serie A.”
A new centre-forward has been needed at the London Stadium for some time, with Michail Antonio the club’s only natural centre-forward. However, bringing Zapata to east London to rival Antonio might not be the smartest move when comparing the two players:
Michail Antonio
The 31-year-old has naturally been carrying the vast majority of the load up top for the Hammers as he’s been leading the line for large parts of the season – and that’s reflected in the numbers that he is putting up.
He is averaging 2.4 shots per game – the joint-most of any Hammer this season – whilst also putting in 1.4 key passes (1st in the team), 1.3 dribbles (3rd) and 0.5 crosses per game (5th) to go along with his eight goals and six assists (via WhoScored).
Duvan Zapata
However, when you look at Zapata’s numbers, there are a lot of areas that he’s falling short in compared to the Jamaican, and in the departments he is doing better than him, it isn’t as if he’s blowing him out of the water.
He is currently putting up 2.9 shots per game for Atalanta in Serie A, alongside 1.4 key passes, 1.2 dribbles, 0.2 crosses and nine goals, whilst also grabbing four assists (via WhoScored).
So based on these metrics, Zapata wouldn’t be much of an upgrade on what Antonio is currently bringing to the side.
TIF Thoughts on Michail Antonio and Duvan Zapata at West Ham United…
Does Antonio need a backup?
Yes
No
So when you consider that there isn’t much extra that Zapata would be bringing to this West Ham United side, it would arguably just be a waste of money for them to bring him on board.
That money should ideally be used on someone a lot younger that can be part of the side for the next few years rather than just offering a short-term solution to the problem.
Either that, or shift Antonio out and bring Zapata in as his direct replacement, but given his service to the club, you’d imagine that’s highly unlikely to happen.
In other news: ‘He would have gone to West Ham’ – Journalist claims GSB ‘missed’ out on a £12m bargain