West Ham need goals but £35m Scamacca left to rot among subs
a FeW weeks back, a West ham source mentioned Gianluca scamacca’s conduct in training was not impressing his coaches. ‘ he’s chucked it,’ claimed the contact.
There was no sugarcoating the situation, though at the time, scamacca was still working his way back from a knee complaint and could be given the benefit of the doubt.
But since then, he has been an unused substitute in four Premier league games in a row, including sunday’s 1-1 draw with aston Villa which prompted boos at full time.
When Danny Ings was removed after 86 minutes, it was not the only striker on the bench that David Moyes turned to, it was Maxwel Cornet, a winger.
scamacca had been sent out to warm up twice. he was fully kitted up, yet he never made it off the bench and walked down the tunnel at full time irritated.
Moyes’ reasoning was he thought Cornet would break behind Villa’s defence and he did, albeit he could not time his runs. Yet the manager said his other reason for snubbing scamacca was to do with the £35.5million signing’s ‘physical data’.
Moyes said it is not meeting his requirements and that it is his job to ‘put out the players who you think are going to win for you’. That, apparently, does not include their Italian international.
scamacca thought he was signing for a club going places last summer. West ham had just finished seventh and reached the semi-finals of the europa league. Instead he has walked into a scrap for survival.
Paris saint- Germain wanted him, where he would have won ligue 1 at a canter. But West ham won his signature after agreeing to pay sassuolo’s valuation. amid all this, it is understandable why scamacca may be wondering what might have been.
The situation brings back memories of sebastien haller, the striker signed from eintracht Frankfurt for £45m in 2019 but sold to ajax for £20m in 2021.
haller has since spoken about how he and Moyes were ‘trapped together’ because he was not the sort of striker for his system. The fear is West ham are experiencing
deja vu with scamacca.
Yet West ham knew what they were getting. They were not signing someone to burst in behind back lines. They were purchasing a 6ft 5in forward who can meet crosses — which might have been useful in the final few moments of sunday’s 1-1 draw with Villa — and can link up play.
scamacca has looked sharp when on the pitch and could be a suitable strike partner for Ings if Moyes decides two up top is worth trying.
Regardless of what Moyes is seeing in training, West ham need goals if they are to stay up. The longer this £35.5m striker is left to rot, the odder it feels.
WesT haM and leicester have protected themselves against the prospect of financial turmoil by inserting relegation wage reduction clauses into the contracts of their most recent signings.
By contrast, a large number of everton players will be entitled to the same basic wage if they are relegated, which would leave them facing a major financial crisis.