West Ham had agreed £5.5m deadline day move for Serie A ‘beast’ before late collapse - report

West Ham failed with a last-minute loan-to-buy bid for Atalanta striker Duvan Zapata, according to reports by Football Insider.

One of David Moyes’ greatest failures of the January transfer window was the failure to secure fresh additions to their attacking ranks. As has been the case for some time, Michail Antonio is the only recognised senior centre-forward at the east London club.

Unsurprisingly, many supporters have become increasingly worried with this situation due to the Jamaica international’s lengthy injury history and the club’s failure to replace Sebastien Haller when he left the Irons for Ajax this time last year.

Despite being linked with Benfica youngster Darwin Nunez, West Ham saw their deadline day bid for the Uruguayan rejected, capping a hugely frustrating month on the transfer front…or so it seemed.

According to Football Insider, West Ham had offered the £5.5m loan fee that Atalanta demanded for Zapata, and the two clubs came to an agreement regarding the option of making the transfer permanent in the summer.

A deal sheet was submitted to the Premier League but the paperwork could not be completed by the 11pm transfer deadline, causing the move to collapse – a calamity which perfectly sums up how the January transfer window went for the Hammers.

Whilst West Ham and Moyes could come out and claim that they were doing all they could to secure a new striker, the matter of the fact is that they had the whole month to get business done.

Even if Zapata wasn’t their first choice, it wouldn’t have mattered, as a striker with abundant Serie A and Champions League experience would have provided much-needed rotation for Antonio.

Having been described as a ‘beast’ and ‘like a train’, Zapata’s failed move begs the