MY ACCOUNT
Life at the London Stadium has not gone to plan for Gianluca Scamacca.
It has been a challenging debut season in English football for West Ham’s No7, after joining from Sassuolo in a £35.5million deal last summer.
As a result, he has been linked with a return to Italy, where the Irons’ frontman remains highly regarded despite his recent struggles.
But Scamacca will still harbour hopes of breathing new life into his time with David Moyes’ men, starting with today’s crunch clash against fellow strugglers Southampton.
Moyes wants more
West Ham manager Moyes declined to bring Scamacca on as a substitute in the Irons’ most recent Premier League match — a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
He instead replaced starting striker Danny Ings with Maxwel Cornet, meaning the 11-cap international has not featured for the Hammers in in the league since mid-January.
Moyes was blunt in his assessment of Scamacca’s shortcomings and outlined what the attacker needs to do to get back into the side.
He said: “We know that [Scamacca’s] physical data has got to be much better than it is.
“Gianluca has got to get himself back. No manager wants to put out a bad team, you want to put out the players who you think are going to win for you, so you are always looking to put your best team out.
“I think his application is there, we just want the output to be bigger and more, that’s one of the things we are looking for more [of].
“The general part of his play, his hold-up play, we like him for it, he’s really, really good at it and we’ve not seen it as much in the work we’ve been doing.”
Limited minutes
Moyes and his coaching staff clearly harbour doubts about Scamacca’s fitness levels.
It was not until his ninth Premier League appearance — a 1-0 defeat against Liverpool — that he completed 90 minutes for the first time.
In fact, he has only started and finished three matches across his 27 games for West Ham.
If the Rome-born forward wishes to earn his manager’s trust, he must prove that he can last a full match on a regular basis.
European excellence
Scamacca may not have hit the heights expected of him in the Premier League but his Europa Conference League appearances have provided reminders of his quality.
He scored his third goal of the competition proper — having also netted twice in two qualifying games — last time out, in the 4-0 last-16 second-leg victory over AEK Larnaca.
The 6ft 5in striker has taken 4.48 shots per 90 minutes in the competition, representing a significant increase on the 2.91 per game he is averaging in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, his 1.03 Europa Conference League goals from open play per 90 is only bettered by seven players and — once again — is vastly superior to his league return of just 0.29 per match.
Supersub
Scamacca’s goal in Europe is unlikely to be enough to earn him a start when West Ham host Southampton this afternoon.
However, it may have convinced Moyes to give him an opportunity as a substitute.
The Italian will fancy his chances of scoring against the Premier League’s bottom side, who went into this weekend with the division’s fourth-worst defensive record — conceding 46 times in 28 games.
A goal off the bench could do wonders for Scamacca’s confidence as he works to get his career back on track.
