Zola Wants Juve Star Giovinco At West Ham

Sebastian Giovinco has risen to prominence over the past 18 months and is now considered one of the best young talents in European football. Having loaned him out to Empoli last season, his club, Juventus, continue to treat the playmaker with kid gloves and are not over-exposing him to first team football.

However, this softly-softly approach does not play well with Sebastian himself, who has hinted in none-too-subtle terms that he may be willing to go elsewhere to gain a starting place in a line-up.

There have long been rumours suggesting the 21-year-old could be lured to the likes of Arsenal, with Juventus sporting director Alessio Secco thought to be eager to cash in on the youngster's talents in order to restrengthen a squad still feeling the effects of Calciopoli, a scandal that saw the club lose a whole host of world class players.

Despite the cooling of those rumours, there is still talk of a potential loan in the press, though the club remain adamant that their starlet will be going nowhere.

Since Gianfranco Zola's appointment as West Ham United boss, the east London club have been linked with a number of Italians, including Giovinco, whom Zola coached for the Italy Under-21s.

Over the weekend, Zola was quoted as saying that though he admires the player, he realises that Juventus would not put themselves in a position to let him leave. However, The Mirror have quoted him as saying, "He's one of those players who can change a game. So I might be interested."

-- Sulmaan Ahmad, Goal.com