Evening news round-up for Saturday 12/11/16 by 337hammer.

West Ham midfielder linked with Serie A return.

West Ham midfielder Pedro Obiang is said to be a transfer target of AS Roma and the giallorossi could make an offer to sign the former Sampdoria man in January. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, AS Roma are looking for midfield reinforcement for the winter transfer window and the former U-21 Spain International tops Luciano Spalletti’s wishlist. calciomercato.com

Would you be happy if Pedro were sold? How do you rate our Spanish midfielder? Certainly we look more solid since he became a starter in our team.

Valencia prioritise Zaza?

Valencia have reportedly made West Ham United and Italy forward Simone Zaza their top striking target for January. According to Superdeporte, Zaza has taken precedence in Valencia’s search for a new No 9. The newspaper adds it has been told that Los Che are “well-placed” to sign him if the Juventus loanee departs London Stadium, given Prandelli knows the player from his time in Serie A. football-espana.net

Now it appears that Valencia are also in for our on loan Italian striker; there seems to be no shortage of takers..Will he stay with us or will he be going to Italy or Spain in January?

Agent: ‘Zaza should be in Serie A’.

West Ham striker Simone Zaza’s agent “advised him to return to Italy and he’d have no problems”. The Italy international is on loan from Juventus, but the option to buy will become mandatory in another five appearances for the Hammers.“I advised him to return to Italy,” agent Giuseppe Riso told Rai Sport. “It’s the best thing for him and his future. “I want to make clear that his father takes care of his interests and he is his agent, while I work with him.

“He has the right determination to make the difference in Serie A. He could also do well in the Premier League, but that would take time. “Simone needs a club that can support and coddle him to a degree. There hasn’t been much patience at West Ham and hasn’t had a great start either…” “Zaza can play as a centre-forward or a support striker, so he would have no problems in Sarri’s system. He has already played 4-3-3 at Sassuolo.” football-italia

West Ham least clinical finishers in the Premier League.

West Ham have been revealed as one of the least clinical finishers in the Premier League. The club’s players have had 160 shots on goal, including blocked shots, in league games this season according to figures provided by Opta. However, just seven per cent of those – 11 in total – have found the back of the net. That’s the joint lowest percentage of shots scored in the Premier League this season. essexlive.news

No surprises in the above stats; how do we solve this striking problem? Are any of our current strikers good enough? Should our midfielders be getting more goals?

Dicks – Cresswell has got his just rewards.

West Ham United coaching assistant Julian Dicks believes Aaron Cresswell has been rewarded for his all hard work over the last two seasons following his call-up to the England squad and feels he has been one of the most consistent left backs in the Premier League. Dicks, who himself was unlucky not to get an England cap when he was producing his best form at West Ham, feels the time has finally come for the Hammers players to be rewarded and represent their country at the highest level. Dicks added: “A lot of West Ham players have been overlooked by England over the years going back to when Billy Bonds was playing. “But when you have players like Michail and Cress, you can’t keep overlooking them because they are two outstanding players. whufc.com

Is Julian right when he says West Ham players get overlooked for England honours? Have we had players in the past who you thought should have had a call-up, but never got one? What about our current captain; should he have had a chance with England?

France 2-1 Sweden: Dimitri Payet nets winning goal.

Dimitri Payet and Paul Pogba scored as France came from behind to earn a valuable win against Sweden in World Cup qualifying on Friday evening. After setting up the first, West Ham playmaker Payet then netted the winning goal on 65 minutes, keeping his cool inside the area to side-foot the ball home. dailymail.co.uk

Dimi was on form for his national side; will he do the business for us against Spurs and in our next few tough fixtures?

Obiang – This is another big derby.

Pedro Obiang knows the importance of getting a good result against Tottenham next weekend and hopes they can get their season back on track with a victory at White Hart Lane. Obiang said: “We were disappointed that we could not get the victory against Stoke but we have to keep the right mentality over the international break and prepare well for the Tottenham game. “This is another big derby for us and we want to come away with the victory. “We know what this game means for the fans and we will be doing everything to get the three points. “We had some big away wins last season against the big teams. It is more important for us this time around to do something similar as we are going through a difficult period, but we will have a big determination to and get the points.” whufc.com

The players seem to be aware of the importance of our upcoming derby game; will they give us a performance to be proud of on the day? Are the 2 games against Spurs the games you most look forward to each season? Or are they the 2 games you dread the most?