West Ham now want Denis Zakaria as a replacement for Declan Rice – after Chelsea rejected an option to sign him from Juventus.
That is according to Fabrizio Romano.
So, what are the details involving Denis Zakaria and Chelsea? Let’s take a look…
What’s the story?
Well, Chelsea took the 26-year-old on loan from Juventus for the 2022/23 campaign, where the Blues also negotiated an option to buy him on a permanent basis.
However – after Zakaria made just seven Premier League appearances – Chelsea decided not to trigger that purchase option.
Now – as detailed by Romano – West Ham are interested in the Switzerland international, and believe he is capable of replacing Rice, who looks set to join Arsenal or Manchester City in a big-money move.
The reliable Italian journalist adds that Zakaria – who Joe Cole called “excellent” – is also not in the plans of Juventus next season, so he finds himself in limbo after a disappointing spell at Chelsea.
Chelsea right to decide against signing Zakaria
In our view, Chelsea were right not to trigger their option to sign Zakaria permanently.
Some may be questioning Chelsea’s judgement on the Swiss midfielder given the fact West Ham feel he is capable of replacing one of the best around in Rice.
After all, there is clearly a decent player in there somewhere – Zakaria was even clocked as one of the quickest in the Premier League during his handful of appearances.
However, it would have been a major risk to buy Zakaria on a permanent basis before Mauricio Pochettino was able to have a proper look at him.
The Metro believe the purchase option was around £30m – which is a huge amount to spend on someone who failed to break into the starting XI regularly throughout the whole 2022/23 campaign.
Hopefully, Zakaria finds himself a new home soon after Juventus and Chelsea decided against keeping him.
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