Simone Zaza’s agent reveals big reason for West Ham failure

Simone Zaza failed at West Ham partly because of his horrific penalty miss for Italy at Euro 2016 the previous summer, according to his agent.

Zaza joined the Hammers on a season-long loan from Juventus last summer, with a permanent deal in place to make the Italian the London club’s most expensive signing, but he turned out to be a huge Premier League flop.

The frontman failed to score or assist a goal in any of his eight games for the Hammers and was that bad that his loan was cut short in January.

He made an immediate switch to Valencia and went on to score six goals in 20 appearances for the La Liga outfit.

Zaza’s spell at the London Stadium, however, remains a low point in his career and part of that was down to his embarrassing penalty miss in a quarter-final shoot-out defeat to Germany at Euro 2016.

“It was a huge mistake,” his father and agent Antonio told Calciomercato.

“Simone was still concerned by the penalty he missed with Italy at the time and he failed to settle in well in London.

“He was not happy with the weather and with the formation of his ex-boss. Moving to Spain was the best ever decision for him.”