Zaza felt ‘no confidence’ at West Ham

Valencia striker Simone Zaza has revealed a change of culture and low confidence fuelled his poor form during his loan spell at West Ham United.

The Italian striker joined the Hammers at the start of the 2016-17 season but departed in January as Los Che signed him on a loan deal from parent club Juventus.

A permanent deal was reached this summer and Zaza how revealed how his penalty shootout miss at Euro 2016 for Italy against Germany haunted him for months afterwards.

“That penalty miss persecuted me for a while, but then I learned to put it behind me,” Zaza told Corriere dello Sport.

“I have to keep going forward. I had difficulties settling in to the English lifestyle at West Ham, so the problems I had there went beyond the penalty miss.

“I felt very little confidence in me at West Ham. I think a similar situation was felt by players who are now impressing at Valencia, such as Geoffrey Kondogbia, Jeison Murillo, Montoya and Neto.

“In football people tend to give rushed verdicts, both positive and negative, you can’t be a flop one year and a few months later a phenomenon.”

Tags Simone Zaza West Ham United
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