Despite having failed during his spell with West Ham, Slaven Bilic has insisted that Simone Zaza is “still a great player”, as quoted by the Football London.
West Ham had to pay a loan fee in the region of £5 million at the beginning of the season to acquire the services of Zaza. He was certainly expected to deliver quality performances for the Hammers, however after eight matches, he failed to impress or score a goal.
After a disappointing few months at the Olympic Stadium, he departed for struggling Spanish Club Valencia last month.
Bilic said: “It was hard for him. He is a really good player. He came on the last day of the transfer window, we needed an immediate impact. He didn’t have time to adjust and it didn’t work out.”
Perhaps Bilic is right. Maybe Zaza is a great player and he may have just struggled to adjust to life in England. It remains to be seen what he will do at Valencia. Offloading him was definitely a good move for Valenicia as the club would have had to pay a sum of around £20 million had he played 14 matches for the club.
