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Gianluca Scamacca development to stop West Ham United disappearing act
West Ham manager David Moyes will look to stop Gianluca Scamacca and his “disappearing act” ahead of an expected start in the Europa Conference League clash with AEK Larnaca, according to the Daily Mail.
The Hammers welcome the Cypriot club to the London Stadium on Thursday (16 March) in their round of 16 second-leg tie, with the English outfit leading 2-0 on aggregate.
The newspaper reported in its print edition [16 March, pg 81] that Scamacca will start the match, but also that Moyes wants the striker to quickly find his form again following a knee injury.
“Yes, it is, a good chance,” Moyes said of starting Scamacca. “We want him back. We want our Gianluca back who we had from August to November. The one we have now looks slightly different.
“We want him to be physically working hard for the team, getting in the right goalscoring positions, playing like a 6ft 4in centre-forward and covering all the ground.
“In the early part of the season we saw that. We haven’t seen it since he came back from his injury in November. It is a difficult league to come into and get settled.”
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Perfect time to shine
As alluded to by Moyes, Scamacca was playing regularly in the initial months of the season before his injury but has found game time hard to come by in recent weeks.
He hasn’t featured in the Premier League since recovering, with his only hope of impressing his manager seemingly in the Europa Conference League.
But if ever there was a perfect opportunity for the striker to reignite his career, it is indeed in the second-leg encounter with AEK Larnaca.
The home fixture will undoubtedly see Hammers fans provide plenty of encouragement, while the side are under no immediate threat of being dumped out of the competition after their first-leg success.
West Ham supporters were hoping that the signature of Scamacca would end all previous attacking transfer nightmares, but with just seven goals in all competitions, it hasn’t exactly panned out that way.
And given the recent recruitment of fellow striker Danny Ings, the Italian may just be playing for his future at the club in the months to come.