West Ham United amaze Don Hutchison with Gianluca Scamacca signing
West Ham United confirmed the signing of Italian international striker Gianluca Scamacca on Tuesday (26 July) and Don Hutchison loves the move.
The 23-year-old joins the Irons for a transfer fee of £35million with add-ons still to come further down the line to become David Moyes’ fourth purchase of the summer after Nayef Aguerd, Alphonse Areola and Flynn Downes.
Scamacca, who scored 16 Serie A goals for Sassuolo last season, stands at six-feet, five-inches tall and finally provides West Ham with the vital challenge and cover for Michail Antonio.
Hutchison, a pundit for the BBC, is highly impressed to see that the Hammers pulled off their biggest transfer move of the summer as he thought bigger European clubs would be the most likely destination for the 23-year-old.
“I still can’t believe West Ham got Scamacca (I thought he’d go Inter/PSG/etc),” Hutchison said via his personal Twitter account. “There is so much potential in him. What a signing. Hopefully he shows what a good player he is and West Ham fans love him.”
Flexibility
Even though Scamcca can only really play as the striker given his enormous height, he still gives Moyes a lot of different options in attack at the London Stadium.
No longer is Antonio required to play through the middle as the club’s only recognised striker which means he could be deployed in a variety of different positions.
With nobody cementing their spot on the left wing, the Jamaican international could drift into the wide areas to start tormenting full-backs again having been moved inside as a necessity a few seasons ago.
He could equally end up at right-back again if an injury crisis were to hit but that would seem highly unlikely given his prowess in attack.
You also can’t rule out West Ham changing tactics to allow both Scamacca and Antonio to partner each other in a strike duo but that would probably come at a consequence for a player like Jarrod Bowen who would be required to do more defensive work as a result.