Gianluca Scamacca: A lethal finisher who can give West Ham a new attacking dimension – scout report

Gianluca Scamacca has put pen to paper on a five-year contract at West Ham United, moving from Sassuolo in a deal worth around £35million. The highly rated 23-year-old Italian striker became the fourth player to come through the door at the London Stadium this summer.

Scamacca represents a huge statement signing for the Hammers after two and a half years without having a natural striker in their first-team squad. Michail Antonio has done a tremendous job since being given the number nine role under David Moyes, but he has had fitness issues in recent years due to being overused and has often gone on barren spells in front of goal.

The forward has just undergone his second full season in Serie A, scoring 16 goals in 36 appearances (27 starts) last term, netting double the amount of goals he recorded for Genoa on loan in 2020/21. Since moving to Sassuolo in 2017, Scamacca has been sent out on four loan spells until he broke out with Genoa two seasons ago.

Prior to that, the Italian had a torrid time in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven after leaving boyhood club AS Roma as a 16-year-old. Ultimately, his loan move to Ascoli in 2019/20 kickstarted the long-awaited emergence of Scamacca at senior level. 13 goals in just under 2,500 minutes in Italy’s second division was a healthy return for a young striker still learning to manage the jump in physicality from youth to senior level.

“He has everything it takes to become a complete centre-forward,” says Italy manager Roberto Mancini.

After recent struggles in the transfer window in the forward department  with players such as Andy Carroll, Andre Ayew, Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez and Sebastien Haller not fulfilling expectations – West Ham supporters will be hoping that Scamacca can quickly hit the ground running and lead the line at the London Stadium for the foreseeable future.

This tactical analysis and scout report sheds light on Scamacca’s style of play and key attributes. The analysis highlights the reasons that led West Ham to invest in the young striker, how he can adapt to the teams tactics and how he compares with Michail Antonio.

Style of play

Playing as a lone striker in either a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 during the 2021/22 campaign, Scamacca has netted an impressive 16 goals in 36 Serie A appearances and ascended into one of the most in-demand center-forwards in Italian football.

The 23-year-old has been likened to Zlatan Ibrahimović in terms of physicality and stature, 195cm tall and weighing 85kg. Nicknamed “Il Bomber”, West Hams new number 7 has taken giant strides in his development in recent years and now looks capable of becoming a physically dominant force in the Premier League. Like Zlatan, especially when he was younger, Scamacca is capable of being a nuisance to defenders from anywhere in the final third.

His 6′5 fram