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Juventus are lining up a third attempt to buy West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca and a summer exit is considered likely, la Gazzetta dello Sport reports.
The £35.5million summer signing from Sassuolo is being increasingly linked with a return to Italy after a miserable first season in England, with David Moyes insisting the 24-year-old’s “physical data has got to be much better” after the Scot left him on the bench when looking for a winner against Aston Villa on Sunday 12 March [via Independent].
Just three Premier League goals and concerns over his place in the Italian national team has apparently led to the forward reportedly wanting to leave, with Inter eyeing him as a replacement for Edin Dzeko [Gazzetta, 9 March].
Now it is the Old Lady who have joined the hunt as they anticipate big-money offers for Dusan Vlahovic this summer, and Scamacca’s name is once again being discussed amongst club chiefs after long-standing interest.
The Italian giants twice attempted to sign the Hammers man from Sassuolo, and are open to a permanent or a loan-to-buy deal if they can bring him in at the third attempt ahead of rivals Inter.
As such Gazzetta reports on Wednesday (15 March) that “divorce in June seems anything but improbable” between West Ham and their big-money signing.
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Ramping up
There is now so much smoke it seems impossible for there to not be some fire behind it as the reports coming out of Italy about a summer run at Scamacca increase.
He looked visibly unhappy when left out as Maxwel Cornet was sent on at the London Stadium on Sunday and his combination of injury issues and lack of goals make it no stretch to imagine he is not enjoying his time in East London.
It doesn’t seem like he is the only one dissatisfied with life under Moyes, as record-signing Lucas Paqueta stormed off down the tunnel when substituted against Villa, and reports emerging that players feel the manager is holding them back [Guardian, 6 March].
The inevitable Sebastien Haller comparisons are hovering over the entire situation, although the fact that the common denominator for both expensive strikers is Moyes doesn’t reflect too well on the manager.
Positive signs from an encouraging February have been blown away since and while there is plenty of blame to go around at the London Stadium for this season, the Scot is very much in the spotlight.
Michail Antonio has regained some scoring form, and Danny Ings is now ahead of Scamacca too, but the former nearly left in January and could well go in the summer, so losing the Italian as well after just a year would be a major admission of failure all round.