West Ham close to selling Scamacca as Serie A club agrees to deal

The Top Flight had covered earlier this week that West Ham United were looking likely to sell striker Gianluca Scamacca. At the time, Serie A side Inter looked like frontrunners for his signature with a bid tabled. Now, fellow Italian side Atalanta looks like they have hijacked a deal for Scamacca.

Fabrizio Romano reports that Gianluca Scamacca is en route to Rome for his medical with Atalanta ahead of a permanent move to the club. Atalanta’s accepted bid for Scamacca was the same proposal Inter had sent, £21.5m with add-ons. What perhaps made Atalanta the ultimate landing spot is apparently the “easy” add-ons in the deal, per Romano. West Ham United also added a 10% sell-on clause as a part of the deal.

After just a season away, Scamacca will be returning to his home country of Italy. A native of Rome, Scamacca was originally in Lazio’s academy before making a switch abroad to PSV. Before ever making a senior appearance for the Dutch giants, he returned to Italy, joining Sassuolo. After multiple loan spells in Serie B and the Eredivise, he finally saw his breakthrough on loan at Genoa, where he netted eight goals in 26 Serie A matches in 20-21. Scamacca returned to Sassuolo the next season; his 16-goal season earned him his move to West Ham United last summer.

Scamacca struggled to perform and stay healthy at West Ham and consequently left England after just one season. It feels as though West Ham needs to buy the players that fit the manager and not assume the players will adjust to playing certain roles. David Moyes clearly is a fan of the more “old school” style of striker, given his loyalty to playing Michail Antonio, who has succeeded under the manager. West Ham buying a more “modern” striker, if they do, may not make a world of sense for their current setup.