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19th Feb 2017

West Ham flop Simone Zaza finally scored a goal and Twitter was loving it

A very long time coming.

JOE

He might not have set the world alight at West Ham, but Simone Zaza will make a great quiz question answer one day.

The Italian striker scored his only London Stadium goal in his first game there, but it came in a Juventus shirt in a pre-season friendly.

After signing on loan for the Hammers, he failed to find the net in 11 appearances before his move was cut short and Juve loaned him to Valencia.

He must have been worried things might be going the same way when his first four games for Los Che produced more of the same, but his fifth appearance – and second start – finally produced his first goal in a competitive game since May 1 last year.

https://twitter.com/SerieA_English/status/833348884021776384

Zaza beat the Athletic Club offside trap to slot home for the hosts with the type of finish some West Ham fans might have thought they were getting.

However, after watching the Italy international huff and puff in front of goal for a few months, there were plenty who thought he wasn’t going to ever score again…until he did.

https://twitter.com/Undisputed_Jsam/status/833352423104249856

https://twitter.com/ffsKyIe/status/833347398743314432

His barren run had seemingly confused at least one fan, who has imagined a goal-heavy Inter spell from a man who has never played for the Milanese club.

https://twitter.com/JackHdixon/status/833349835080290305

Zaza had been waiting a long time by anyone’s standards, let alone the standards of a striker who represented his country at a major international tournament.

Now we wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up going on a bit of a scoring streak. Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.