West Ham transfer news: Simone Zaza completes season-long loan move from Juventus

On the move: Zaza has completed his switch to West Ham
GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images
James Benge30 August 2016

Simone Zaza has completed his move to West Ham, the Italian striker arriving from Juventus on an initial season-long loan with a view to a long-term deal.

The Italy international's move will cost the Hammers £5million for the season, while a certain number of appearances will trigger a permanent transfer for a further £20million.

That would make the Italian international West Ham’s equal-record signing. Slaven Bilic has already broken his transfer ceiling once this summer, paying Swansea £20m for Andre Ayew and it has partially been down to an injury to the Ghanaian international that the Hammers have returned to the market.

Andy Carroll, Diafra Sakho and Ayew all face periods on the sidelines and Zaza will be expected to lead the West Ham line throughout the season.

After completing his move, Zaza told West Ham's official website: “I want to thank everyone for welcoming me including the fans and everyone at the Club. I wanted to start a new experience and I feel this is the right choice for me.

“I have been fortunate enough to have already played at the new Stadium with a different shirt. It is a beautiful stadium and I felt the warmth of the fans and this was a big reason why I wanted to join the Club.

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“I want to become a better player and I know I can do that at West Ham. Unfortunately we could not qualify for the Europa League, but I am hoping I can help the Club do that next season.”

Over three seasons in Serie A Zaza scored 25 goals for Sassuolo and Juventus, helping to fire the former side to its best ever league campaign.

However his £12m move to the Italian champions rarely got off the ground. Zaza made just 24 appearances for Juventus last season but did display an impressive goal tally, finding the back of the net every 133 minutes on average.

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