Saints Interested In Juventus Striker To Replace Pelle

With the future of Graziano Pelle uncertain as he runs into the final year of his contract, Saints could be looking at one of his countrymen as a replacement.

The general view amongst Saints supporters is that Graziano Pelle will leave St Mary's in the summer for a return to his native Italy, if he does then he should do so with the gratitude of every Saints fans ringing in his ears for the work he has put in for this football club in his two seasons at St Marys.

If he does go though Saints are being rumoured to be looking at Juventus striker Simone Zaza to replace him.

West Ham are reported to be in the chase for the striker as well, however Saints should be in the driving seat as Juventus are one of the Italian clubs being linked with Zaza and a swap deal could be advantageous to both Saints and the Turin club.

As seems to be normal in Italy Zaza has flitted between clubs who seem to co own him at various times, but since last summer he has been a Juventus player outright, although they owned him briefly in 2013 before transferring some of him to Sassuolo, then selling their remaining share and bizarrely buying him back outright last summer.

But he hasn't been a first choice player in the past season and started only 5 games in Serie A plus 15 others coming on as sub, but he has an eye for goal scoring 5 times.

But he is keen to get more game time and it would suit both club and player to see a move happen.

Given that Juventus paid Sassuolo 18 million euros to buy him back a year ago he will not come cheap, but Saints could use Pelle as bait, I would say that his possible worth at the moment could be around £12 million and Saints would look for £5 million of that to be covered by Pelle's valuation n the deal.

Zaza is described as a strong left footed forward with an eye for goal and is able to play as an out and out central striker due to his aerial power or as a second striker .

He has played 9 times for his country and has been included in Italy's preliminary squad for the upcoming European Championships in France alongside Pelle.

He looks a good replacement for Pelle although the only drawback being would his situation be any better here than at Juventus given the forward options we have even without Pelle.

But with a Europa League campaign and Saints looking to continue their rise I would say he would be a good signing for the club should Pelle depart.

What to read next:

Season Preview Revisited – Top Half
It’s that time of the year again where we look back at the hits and misses from our season preview – this year we either got your team exactly right to the place, or missed by half the division.

A season of three thirds: how Cifuentes and QPR beat the drop – Analysis
Columnist Andrew Scherer returns with an end-of-season deep dive into the facts and figures behind Marti Cifuentes’ rescue job on QPR’s class of 2024.

End of Term 23/24 – Attack
The fourth and final part of our annual review and number crunch of the QPR squad finishes with the club’s amazing non-scoring strikers.

End of Term Report 23/24 – Midfield
The third part of our end of term report focuses on QPR’s midfield – an enormous problem for this team for a number of seasons now, it’s been one of the areas of significant improvement under Marti Cifuentes.

End of Term Report 23/24 – Defenders
Part two of our annual individual player reports for the season focuses on a defence which really came into its own under Marti Cifuentes and contains the two outstanding candidates for the club’s player of the year award.

End of Term Report 23/24 – Goalkeepers
The first of our annual four-part individual assessment of the QPR players’ performances during the previous season always starts with the goalkeepers – and, regrettably, that means we’re puncturing the recent feel-good factor round here by beginning with a negative.

The Coventry Conference – Report
Coventry away, for so long a fixture that loomed almost as large as the spectre of Eoin Jess over Queens Park Rangers, turned into an eighth away win of the campaign and survival party for a manager and support base who both really stepped up when it mattered in 23/24.

Coventry City 1 - 2 Queens Park Rangers - Player Ratings and Reports
If you saw the match, please give us your player ratings and a mini match report.

The season that was - Preview
As QPR, unbelievably, head to Coventry on the final day safe and secure, LFW looks back at a tumultuous two years at the football club, and the lessons it must learn to make the most of the potential it now has to move forwards.

I hear you’re a set piece team now father – Analysis
In his final analysis piece for LFW this season, Dan Lambert looks at how QPR went from being the worst team in the league for offensive set pieces to, eventually, kind of good.