Zola not fazed by Bellamy´s impending departure

West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola is ready to let Craig Bellamy leave Upton Park with his blessing after being told he will be able to use the transfer fee to sign a replacement.

Bellamy was absent from West Ham’s squad for Sunday’s 3-1 win over Fulham at Upton Park because Zola felt the Wales striker wasn’t in the right frame of mind to play.

The former Liverpool star walked out of training on Friday after hearing that West Ham had denied him permission to speak to Tottenham about a move to White Hart Lane.

Manchester City are also keen to sign the fiery striker and Zola will sell because he knows he will be allowed to buy a new forward, even though the club’s financial situation is perilous.

“If he’s sold I will get the money to spend on other players. We are looking at targets,” Zola said.

“The situation needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. I haven’t set a deadline but I need to know where I am going with my squad.

“It has to be quick because we are looking for new players and we will find someone.

“Craig wasn’t on the bench because I don’t think he was in the right frame of mind. It is as simple as that.

“Honestly I don’t know if he has played his last game. I spoke with him on Saturday. He is a player I value very much. If he doesn’t want to stay we can’t do anything about it.

“He wants to have another experience and go to another club where he might think he will get something better. Sometimes it happens.”

Zola has no reason to fear that Bellamy’s imminent departure will derail his side’s season after watching David Di Michele help to dispatch Fulham.

Although he was preoccupied by the Bellamy saga all week, Zola still keep his team motivated enough to extend their unbeaten run to five matches and lift them to eighth in the table.

Di Michele, drafted in as Bellamy’s replacement, scored West Ham’s opener when he punished a woeful chested backpass by former Hammers defender John Pantsil.

Fulham left-back Paul Konchesky – another West Ham old boy – equalised with a stunning long-range strike. But Konchesky was the villain after half-time as he brought down Carlton Cole in the penalty area and Mark Noble buried the spot-kick.

Di Michele turned provider to seal the win with an astute pass that Cole steered past Mark Schwarzer.

“Right now I’m looking forward to drinking a good glass of wine to celebrate because I have been through some difficult moments this week,” Zola said.

“This was a great result, a great performance. It would have been easy for us to fail because there was a strange atmosphere at the stadium.

“During the week there was so much talk around us. It’s been like this all year but this week I didn’t have time to think about the game.”

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson admitted his side had only themselves to blame for their first defeat in 11 matches.

“Sometimes you can only play as well as the opposition allow you, but with regards to the goals they were clear technical errors from players who haven’t been making them this season,” he said.

“Maybe this was our quota of blatant mistakes in one game. We deserved to lose because West Ham were the better team.”

Hodgson also took a swipe at West Ham’s Australia defender Lucas Neill, who got Simon Davies booked by kicking the ball at him as he lined up for a free-kick.

“I’m not in favour of people kicking the ball at opponents from two or three yards to get them booked,” he said.

“I told Neill that from fairly close range and he told me exactly what to do as well. The last time I fought someone was 52 years ago so I wasn’t going to get in too much of a fight with a tough Australian!”