Saturday 10 September 2016 19:03, UK
Slaven Bilic is ready to unleash new West Ham signing Simone Zaza on the Premier League but admits he will not be allowed to take any penalties.
Zaza joined the Hammers on loan from Juventus last month after appearing for Italy at Euro 2016 where fans saw him blaze a penalty over the bar following an exaggerated and stuttering run-up in the quarter-final shootout defeat to Germany.
However, manager Bilic says he has no intention of taking spot-kicks away from regular taker Mark Noble.
"Will [Zaza] take penalties? No, no. We have a good penalty taker already, a great one," said Bilic.
"And we don't get that many penalties anyway. We'd like more!"
Nevertheless, Bilic is set to pitch the 25-year-old straight into his injury-hit forward line against Watford on Saturday, and he insists the striker is ready.
"He was here for a couple of weeks training with us," he added. "He is a player of quality, he has shown me in training and now he has to show it on the pitch in a proper game in a stadium. Of course we aren't going to judge him based on one game or whatever, but I'm sure.
"He's got all the qualities that we need from a centre-forward and hopefully he's going to click straight away.
"He is not afraid of it. He wants it, you know? He wants to start a game and sooner or later and he's ready. I spoke to him and watched him in training and everything. He's ready and I think he will play. We are not rushing him."
