'Game-Breaking' Striker Gianluca Scamacca Joins West Ham
It’s been a long road, but West Ham’s 564-day centre-forward search is over at last.
Although few could have predicted that it would take the Hammers three transfer windows to sign Sebastien Haller’s replacement, nobody expected David Moyes to capture Gianluca Scamacca either.
The 23-year-old arrives at the London Stadium on a five-year contract following a £30 million transfer from Sassuolo. However, this is a West Ham signing like no other.
Scamacca made waves as a 14-year-old by ditching Roma — his boyhood club — to join PSV’s fabled youth academy in 2015.
While he continued his development under Mark van Bommel in the Netherlands, a fierce debate about the state of Italian football raged on back home — such was the significance of his transfer.
Seven years on, 6’5” Scamacca is on the right path to delivering on his early promise. He signed for Sassuolo in 2017 and spent the following four seasons honing his craft on loan in Serie B, the Eredivisie, and Serie A.
However, he only emerged as a game-breaking forward last season, marching into the Italian national team after a run of dominant top-flight performances:
But what should West Ham fans expect from the Rome-born forward?
“The strongest part of his game is a tough question,” Alex Barker tells West Ham + 19. “I would probably say his finishing. It's been spoken about a lot by Serie A fans how lethal he is at striking the ball, like with his goal against Milan (above). He can generate a lot of power with little back lift, which should serve to create some proper stunners in East London.”
In other words, Scamacca is Michail Antonio’s kryptonite. He possesses the technique and confidence to snipe from long-range, adding a new string to the bow for West Ham’s attack.
Before we address the Italian’s analytics, let’s break down his technique on a pair of Serie A strikes.
Sassuolo are trailing Napoli 2-0 in the 70th minute and are attacking with increased urgency. Georgios Kyriakopoulos seizes the moment, creating a degree of separation between himself and his marker. At the last moment, the Greek full-back fires the ball into the penalty area:
From there, it’s all Scamacca. He uses his frame to fight off defensive attention, brings the ball down with his chest, spins, and thumps a volley into the net.
Unfortunately for the Neroverdi, Napoli shut the door thereafter, winning 2-1 on the road.
A season earlier, Scamacca is leading the line for Genoa in a derby match against Sampdoria. The travelling side are leading 2-1, forcing Claudio Ranieri’s hosts to push for an equaliser. It backfires:
After a centre-circle turnover, the ball is fed to Scamacca. He delays his goalward run to create space between himself and the defender, before curling a ridiculous shot into the top corner.
While there’s only so much you can read into 11 seconds of football, the above provides a small window into Scamacca’s ball-striking quality. His technique is exemplary, especially when compared with West Ham’s other forward option(s).
With that, let’s crack our spreadsheets open.
Scamacca enjoyed a breakout season in 2021-22, netting 16 goals in 40 appearances for club and country. And it wasn’t a fluke: he comfortably outshot his xG (+3.7) and finished sixth in Serie A scoring.
He also ranked highly (ninth) for long passes received (2.82 per 90), evidencing his effectiveness as an outlet on the transition.
However, the former PEC Zwolle loanee isn’t perfect.
“The weakest [part of his game] is probably his left foot,” Barker explains. “Out of his 16 goals last season, not a single one came from his left.
“Also, it's worth mentioning that he isn't as cultured as someone like Oliver Giroud at using his body back-to-goal. He thrives more off his excellent ball control than really barging defenders out of the way: the good thing is, this is something that will improve with age.”
According to fbref.com, Scamacca uses his right foot for 91 percent of his touches. (Lionel Messi, to pick an extreme example, is 91 percent left-dominated; 83 percent of Antonio’s touches are with his right boot.)
While the 23-year-old’s one-footedness makes him more predictable to defend against, winning 25.8 percent of his offensive duels last season suggests he is heading in the right direction. (Antonio’s success rate was 33.4 percent.)
There is also room for improvement in Scamacca’s back-to-goal play: his 53.5 percent aerial duel win rate doesn’t jump off the page for a player of his stature. However, the 1999-born forward has plenty of time to develop further and ranks favourably in this metric anyway.
He is therefore well-suited to life with West Ham and, once settled, could race into signing of the summer contention.
“I'm a little cautious on how quickly he adapts,” Barker adds. “He clearly has all the attributes [needed to be successful] and I personally think Serie A is the second best league outside England.
“David Moyes is known for slowly bedding players in, and while I hope Scamacca starts a lot of games on the bounce, it's probably expected for him to be mainly a sub at first. By the end of this season though, like Areola, his path to being the main starter should be clear.”
West Ham finally have their Haller replacement. Rejoice, Irons.
Alex Barker is the author of the Euro Experts Newsletter, covering football on the continent through the lens of tactical and player analysis. He also writes for Breaking The Lines and Get French Football News.
Twitter: @EuroExpert_
TikTok: @euroexpert
Gianluca Scamacca is the Hammers’ fourth signing of the summer, following:
Born in Brentwood, Made in the EFL: How Will Flynn Downes Help West Ham?
Guess Who’s Back? Alphonse Areola Joins West Ham (Permanently, This Time)
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