West Ham allow Italian striker to return home to Serie A

West Ham have allowed Alessandro Diamanti to return to his native country and help newly promoted Brescia attempt to secure their place in Serie A.

The 27-year-old was a Gianfranco Zola signing and managed eight goals in his 29 appearances for the club, but has only featured in 17 minutes of action since the arrival of new boss Avram Grant at the beginning of the summer.

The Hammers splashed out £6m when they signed him in August 2009 but Brescia have managed to secure the services of the passionate Italian for £1.8m and that figure will rise to £2m should Brescia do enough to remain in Italy’s top league.

Brescia face a tough away trip to Parma in their first game in the top flight and are 7/2 to secure their first three points of the season.

West Ham fans will be sad to see the back of the Italian who became a favourite in his short time at the club thanks to his emotional displays, and they will be looking for a better replacement to cure their poor effort in front of goal.

Avram Grant is under pressure after weak performances from the side in their opening three games of the season and is 7/1 to be the next Premier League manager to leave.

Scott Parker managed to save West Ham’s blushes with a late winner against League Two opposition Oxford United last night and if West Ham can’t find an improvement soon, the 9/4 for them to be relegated is looking very tempting.

Both Brescia and West Ham face relegation battles and West Ham are 9/4 for the drop. See the full Barclays Premier League betting market here.