On the long list of failed West Ham strikers, Gianluca Scamacca probably doesn’t rank very highly, but he’s very much on there.
The Italian’s year-long spell at the London Stadium was a miserable one, to say the least, and he’s yet to bounce back from it at new club Atalanta, as Corriere della Sera detail today.
They cover the player and provide something of a character assassination of the West Ham man, who is not earning fans at the Italian club.
The say the striker, signed from West ham for €25m plus €5m in bonuses in the summer, ‘doesn’t fight’ and ‘doesn’t sacrifice himself’ for the team.
He seems to have decided against giving anything, ignoring criticism from Atalanta’s manager and even those from Italy coach Luciano Spalletti, and seemingly more focused on playing the PlayStation.
His latest ‘inadequate performance’ came in the 1-1 draw with Milan, in which he appeared like a ‘foreign body’, refusing to use any of his abilities to his advantage and instead putting in lifeless, poor displays and ignoring ‘provocations’ from Gasperini and Spalletti alike.
He needs to ‘change his tune’ as his current career is on the slide, with the newspaper labelling him ‘over-tattooed for pleasure’ and ‘over-salaried to play’.
They believe he needs to choose what path he wants to take as he’s currently on the one that will see him ‘rolling into other worlds’ and away from the top clubs, where he certainly has the potential to play.
All in all, it seems West Ham got a good deal and might have done well to get rid for the price they did, with the striker very much not proving doubters wrong.
