Unlike Álvaro Morata, Davide Zappacosta’s debut season at Chelsea showed little to no signs that the player is up to the challenge of defending a top club in the Premier League. The 26-year-old continued his string of bad performances with the Italian national team, and now it seems that his agent is seeking a way out of Stamford Bridge for him.
The top club in the running for him are Inter Milan, looking to rebuild themselves for their upcoming Champions League challenge. They have recently lost João Cancelo to Juventus and Davide Santon to Newcastle, and they see Zappacosta as the ideal target to replace the former if the price is right. However, the reported €30 million asking price from Chelsea is far from optimal for them.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness), the transfer remains “blocked” by Chelsea. Zappacosta’s agent Alessandro Lucci met several times with Inter, but they have yet to meet terms with Chelsea on a fee.
So Inter are trying to create some pressure by adding other targets. Manchester United’s Matteo Darmian, as well as Atlético Madrid’s Šime Vrsaljko and Barcelona’s Aleix Vidal, are the alternatives in case they don’t land their “favourite” Zappacosta.
In the meantime, he could also be a fallback option for one of Inter’s major rivals, AS Roma, in case the club from the Italian capital fails to renew Alessandro Florenzi’s contract. But according to Corriere dello Sport, he would be one of the “less interesting” options along with Vrsaljko.
Giving up on Zappacosta after one year could be deemed premature, but it is likely that he will only lose his market value by sitting on the bench for us during an entire year. To sell him now, when he is still in demand, would be the best move for the club. Even if it means taking a loss on the €25 million foolishly spend on him out of desperation last summer.