The mysterious thing about Zalayeta is that no-one is entirely sure about how much we actually paid for him all those years ago. I remember some thread that discussed this a year or two ago.
That centered around his worth to the squad and the likely fee he would raise if he were to be transferred away from Juve. Estimates ranged from £5m to £10m as to the transfer toJuve.
At that time memories were fairly freshabout the 2004-2005 season and the contribution he made.
The only goal in the 0 - 1 win at Udinese
One in the 2 - 1 win vs Messina
The 2nd goal in the 2 - 0 home win against Roma
The 1st goal in the 3 - 0 win against Chievo Verona
The only goal in the 1 - 0 win against Ajax
The clincher against Real Madrid in the 118th minute for a 2 - 1 win on agg
Scoring in the 2 - 1 win at the Delle Alpi (over Bologna)
All this from few starts and/or late substitutions amounting to minimal playing time.
Since then of course he has fallen out of favour big style, seemingly only getting some playing time when we have an injury crisis.
The key question is this. Is he a financial liability to the club, assuming he is on high wage?
Does he have any future at the club? The answer, sadly for Zala, is almost certainly no, given DD's preference of playing Palladino ahead of him.
The time has come to put feelers out for offers. He deserves more regular first team football. I suspect that there would be a number of Spanish and English clubs willing to shell out a realistic amount for his services, assuming he still has contract time left.