Steven Gerrard praises Chelsea new boy Zappacosta

Bengaluru, September 20: Former Liverpool captain and current TV pundit Steven Gerrard has backed Chelsea new boy Davide Zappacosta to shine in the Premier League.

The Premier League champions spent most of the summer transfer window chasing Juventus left-back Alex Sandro but the Italian Serie A champions refused to sell the Brazil international to the Premier League champions despite offers in excess of £52million.

The Blues were also linked with a move to sign Tottenham Hotspur’s England international Danny Rose but a deal failed to materialise. Then, Antonio Conte rushed a deal to sign Torino full-back Zappacosta over the line on transfer deadline to strengthen their wing-back options.

The 24-year-old Italian right-back made his Premier League debut as a second-half substitute in Chelsea’s 2-1 win at Leicester City at the weekend after opening his Chelsea goal account with a stunning effort in the west London side’s 6-0 victory over Qarabag in their Champions League opener on Tuesday (September 19) night.

BT Sport pundit Steven Gerrard was highly impressed with the Italian defender’s movement throughout the Champions League clash.

“He looks a very impressive runner. He looks like a proper athlete,” Gerrard told BT Sport.

Chelsea won the Premier League title with two games to spare last season and in their title win, their wing-backs Victor Moses and Marcus Alonso played a pivotal role. Gerrard says that Conte needed to add depth in the wing-back positions this season as his system’s success depends a lot how the two wing-backs fare.

Even though Zappacosta was a deadline day signing and most deadline day signings prove to be panic signings, early signs are saying that Zappacosta will prove to be a brilliant addition to Chelsea.

After his sensational debut goal for Chelsea, Zappacosta said that it was "without a doubt" the best night of his career.

"To be honest, before I hit it I had a look in the area for a free teammate and then I just hit the ball, and from that moment I can't quite remember anything," he said.

"I was in a real trance - the ball hitting the back of the net, celebrating with the fans, hugging my teammates - it was total chaos, but a beautiful chaos."