West Ham United are on the verge of completing a deal to bring Brescia teenager Savio Nsereko to the club for a reported fee of £9m.
The Hammers' director of football Gianluca Nani helped to bring Nsereko to Brescia from 1860 Munich when he was working for the Italian club and is a big fan of the 19-year-old.
"We are working on Savio of Brescia, and we are well advanced," Nani told Mediaset. "We have never talked to anyone about (Internazionale's) Mario Balotelli but if we have Savio in place then that could be us done in January."
Savio's agent Patrick Bastianelli, has also confirmed that the deal is close to completion, saying: "Savio will go away soon, and the boy is happy to find (Gianfranco) Zola, a great coach and with him he will only embrace an important technical programme from which he will only grow and improve.
"West Ham have accelerated the negotiations."
Zola has also been boosted by fresh indications from Scott Parker that he is willing to commit his future to the club.
The England midfielder spoke out as it emerged his club was set to offer him a new two-year extension to his £50,000-per-week deal after turning down bids from Manchester City.
"Do I see my long-term future at West Ham? Yes," Parker said. "The team are playing well under the new management and with the lads here, we've got something that's really good. I'm happy, I'm enjoying myself and I feel I'm playing some good stuff."
Meanwhile, reports suggest Robert Green and Matthew Upson are set to be offered new Upton Park contracts.
