Insider ExWHUemployee has revealed West Ham United could be looking to sign Duvan Zapata this January as his transfer valuation is 'slashed'.

What’s the word?

It's been widely reported that the Hammers are in the market for a new striker with the club even making a £25m bid for Lorient forward Terem Moffi.

Beyond that, it's believed that a number of offers have gone in for other players too. In the past, David Moyes tried to sign Zapata from Atalanta but failed.

However, the Premier League side may now look to rekindle their interest with injury issues supposedly causing his transfer value to drop considerably.

Indeed, when speaking on The West Ham Way podcast, Ex said: “We almost signed him before. He's 31, so that age isn't really on his side.

"But in terms of if we could get a short-term deal for him, another six months perhaps, which is what we tried to do before with him, I think we'd be tempted.

"However, Everton are also in for him. Now, of course, if we can sign him over Everton, that'd be a big bonus for us in terms of the relegation battle. They have said that they'd rather sell him than loan him, but they have slashed their asking price because he's had a number of injuries recently.

"His scoring record is actually very good in Italy, hence why we tried to sign before but this season he's had a lot of injuries, so it would be a gamble if we were to move for him again.

"So I'm just saying, I don't know if we definitely have [made a bid] or not, but he's certainly someone that's [had] strong interest in the past.”

Worth the risk

Zapata, who has been described as a "monster", certainly could add goals to the West Ham front line. After all, he has scored 80 times for Atalanta while also providing 40 assists in 174 outings.

However, this season, he has struggled for form, netting just one Serie A goal in 12 appearances. A hamstring injury may well be to blame, but Moyes won't want to bring in anyone with major fitness doubts, so this deal would be a bit of a gamble.

Indeed, from 2021 to 2022, Zapata was out for 188 days due to a series of injury issues and at 31 years of age now, there's no guarantee the striker will ever get back to his best.

Even so, if West Ham can sign a proven goalscorer on the cheap, despite the current concerns, perhaps this deal would be worth the risk.