ExWHUemployee has revealed that West Ham United made a late attempt to sign striker Duvan Zapata and actually thought they had got the deal sorted – only for it to fall through.
The first transfer window of 2022 has now officially shut and Premier League teams will have to compete for the rest of the season with the squads they have now.
One of those sides, West Ham, were unable to add to their team when many supporters likely would have hoped for a little strengthening.
Despite not getting any deals across the line, Ex has now explained how the Hammers did start working on a deal for Zapata at 7pm on Deadline Day. However, Atalanta suddenly went quiet just when David Moyes and co thought they were going to land their man.
Will West Ham's lack of transfers cost them top six?
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In a post shared on The West Ham Way Patreon page, he said: “We can confirm that the club started working on a deal for Duvan Zapata, a Colombian forward at Atalanta at 7pm. They thought they had got the deal done. Then apparently Atalanta went quiet and the deal fell through.
“This has been given to us by one of our main sources after the window closed. It does make you question why we start working on deals so late.”
TIF Thoughts on Dusan Zapata and West Ham…
Over the month of January, it seemed clear that West Ham wanted to bring in a new striker. Indeed, at one point they were reported by Sky Sports to be ‘in talks’ to sign teenage Reims striker Hugo Ekitike for a fee in the region of £25m.
And now, with Ex’s report, it seems that they desperately turned their attentions to Colombian forward Zapata when other options presumably dwindled.
With 12 goals and seven assists in all competitions this season, it’s easy to understand why the 30-year-old was a target. However, by the same token, Atalanta probably didn’t want to lose that quality so late on in the window.
In the end, West Ham failed to sign anyone, which does beg the question also asked by Ex: why did they start working on deals so late?
In other news: ‘My understanding’ – Sky Sports man reveals what Moyes ‘has been told by the board’ at WHUFC