Striker announcement imminent
The announcement of the sale of striker Gianluca Scamacca to Atalanta is immanent. The Italy international could be unveiled as early as today, with personal terms having been agreed.
The fee is believed to amount to £27m if all add-ons are triggered. The club will feel the outcome acceptable, given the number of loan bids they received for the player. With Nikola Vlasic expected to depart within the next few days, the West Ham clear-out shows no sign of relenting.
Make no mistake about it, the sale of Scamacca is an admission of failure from West Ham. The club took 18 months to identify their prime forward target following the sale of Sebastien Haller. Having scouted and spent a fortune on the Italian, it quickly became clear that he was unsuited to the manager’s system.
As a result, we’re now having to sell the player at a loss 12 months later. I’ve no doubt that he’s a good player, and won’t be surprised to see him score goals in Serie A.
Hopefully the club will now look to recruit a new striker. However, given the time it’s taken to replace Declan Rice, I’m far from confident.
