West Ham finally got their man. Their long wait for a proven goal-scoring striker is over. It was not Carlos Bacca, Christian Benteke or Wilfried Bony who quenched their thirst for a forward, however. It was Simone Zaza.

The Italian may not be the big, Premier League known name that some Hammers fans had craved, but he is a player of the calibre that West Ham should be targeting. Comical penalty miss at the European Championships aside, Zaza is a rounded, versatile striker. His work ethic makes him a testing forward to play against, even if he is not finding the net on a regular basis. Possessing pace and power, he can work as effectively with his back to goal as when looking to challenge behind the defensive line.

Arriving at West Ham with Andy Carroll already injured and Diafra Sakho distinctly out of favour, Zaza has a weight of expectation on his shoulders from the off. It's been a long wait for the Irons to secure a goal scorer.

They have not had a player score more than ten Premier League goals since pre-Kevin Nolan.

Once Manuel Lanzini, Sofiane Feghouli and Dimitri Payet are fit, they will have an artillery of midfield creators for Zaza. The underlying concern of the Italian, still, is that he has only once scored more than 10 league goals in a season himself - that being with Sassuolo in 2014/15. The demands will be higher than that at West Ham, he needs more goals, more all-round contribution and to fire his side to the next level. All summer it has been perceived that a forward is the missing piece in Slaven Bilic's claret jigsaw, now Zaza has to deliver emphatically.

Simone Zaza

With the Europa League no longer an issue for West Ham, the focus is solely on reproducing - or even exceeding - their 2015/16 season. Although the prospect of Champions League qualification briefly looked plausible, an eventual seventh placed finish was commendable enough in itself. An end of season disappointment should not cloud judgement over a manager who in an ordinary year may have won the Manager of the Year award.

The creative talent that will buzzing behind Zaza ups the ante on him. Anything below 15 Premier League goals should be deemed a disappointment, after all the chasing that West Ham have done for a forward. It will, perhaps unfairly, be hard not to glance across the city for comparison with the numbers that Christian Benteke is producing.

Demands are high on the Italian forward and, when you look at his previous record, it seems all the more daunting. A career-best goal return will see him deemed a success and anything else will quickly see eyebrows raised and reactionary articles written.

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