One of the aims for West Ham United this transfer window was to find themselves a striker that could help alleviate the burden placed on Michail Antonio’s shoulders.
After a long search, the Hammers eventually decided to lump on Gianluca Scamacca, spending just over £32m on the Italian’s services.
There was also interest from Paris Saint-Germain in the 23-year-old, but it appears that the decision to join West Ham wasn’t necessarily just Sassuolo’s, but also the player’s.
This is what the Serie A side’s chairman, Giovanni Carnevali, told TuttoMercatoWeb on Friday, as he sat down to have a quick chat with the website about his club’s transfer window.
He said: “It was not an easy market but we are satisfied because we moved well, in advance, without waiting until the last minute. We made some important transfers. Scamacca in the Premier League gives us great satisfaction: one of our players lands in the most important league in the world.”
The chairman was then asked about a potential interest from Inter in the West Ham signing, but that never appeared to be anything concrete, at least this year.
He added: “They asked us, but I’m talking about last season. In this market, there were no requests from Italian clubs. Maybe because they knew about our financial demands: we always said he would go to a foreign team.
“In addition to West Ham, there was an important interest from Paris Saint-Germain, but we wanted to keep our word and the boy is also convinced that on a professional level, he can have the opportunity to grow even more.”
This suggests that Scamacca wanted a move to West Ham above a probably better paid transfer to France, which shows the ambitions he has as a player.
Most would have favoured the money and the allure of playing with the likes of Kylian Mbappé and Neymar, but it’s clear the Hammers’ signing wants to go about his career the right way, growing step by step, and saw a move to London Stadium as the perfect opportunity to develop.
Either way, it’s a win for West Ham, who have been very careful about throwing him at the deep end, only giving him his first start of the season in the Premier League against Aston Villa.
