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Simone Zaza was always going to be a name to keep track of this season and going forward into the summer of 2015. When he received his first call-up to the Italian national team, that notion only continued to be true. And when he scores starts to find the back of the net on a consistent basis like he is these past few weeks, it's pretty tough to not pay attention to him.
Now, we have another reason to keep an eye on the young Italian striker who currently leads Sassuolo in scoring.
According to multiple reports out of Italy late Thursday and early Friday, Zaza is the eye of English Premier League side Tottenham, who would like to bring the striker to London during the January transfer window. Sky Sports Italia's Gianluca Di Marzio states that Spurs officials have already met with Sassuolo director Giovanni Carnevali about a potential move for Zaza, who currently has seven goals in 13 Serie A games this season.
Allarme Juve: emissari del Tottenham incontrano il Sassuolo e chiedono Simone Zaza. I bianconeri possono ricomprarlo a 15 milioni
— Massimiliano Nerozzi (@MaxNerozzi) January 15, 2015
#Juve Zaza, gli occhi della Premier e un caso diverso da Immobile @cmdotcom http://t.co/oHcFUREe34
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 16, 2015
Now, you may be asking yourself something like, "What does this have to do with Juventus?"
Well, it's rather simple, kids.
Zaza, who was co-owned with Juventus and Sassuolo last season, was bought outright by Sassuolo this past summer as the second half of contract cost €7.5 million, pushing the total value of his rights to €15 million. Simple enough, right? Not really. Juventus, as confirmed by Zaza's agent in the last week, have a buyback clause to potentially bring Zaza to Turin this summer (for the same €15 million price tag) or in the summer of 2016 (for €18 million).
It's not like the Juventus management has given any kind of indication as to which direction they will go in. But, as Di Marzio points out, Juve has first right of refusal when it comes signing Zaza — which would obviously give us a big fat hint as to whether they consider the 23-year-old Italian an option at striker in the next season or two.
Translation: If Sassuolo wants to sell, they need Juventus' permission first. Ha!
Di Marzio also says that as of now, Zaza would prefer a move to Juventus. So we've got that going for us, which is cool.
Maybe he could bring Domenico Berardi with him? To Turin, that is. Just a suggestion.
