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West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca slammed by Italy legend, underperforming forward ‘far behind’
West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca is “far behind” and “must show something more,” according to former Italy striker Christian Vieri.
Despite struggling in front of goal for the Hammers this season, Scamacca was included in Roberto Mancini’s latest Italy squad for their Euro 2024 qualifiers against England and Malta earlier this month.
But the forward has failed to establish himself at international level, and is yet to score from his 11 Italy caps. He featured from the bench as Italy lost to England and beat Malta.
“He (Scamacca) is far behind, I thought he’d get regular playing time at West Ham,” said Vieri, as quoted by Il Corriere della Sera.
“He must show something more and score more goals.”
Scamacca is now behind new Italian hero Mario Retegui in the pecking order for his nation, with West Ham recently linked with the latter’s signature (la Gazzetta dello Sport).
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Scamacca struggling
It isn’t just with Italy that Scamacca is failing to impress, with the 24-year-old scoring just three goals from his 16 Premier League matches for West Ham.
He has three goals in the Europa Conference League, as well as scoring twice in qualifying for the competition, which takes his tally to eight goals from 27 appearances in claret and blue.
A knee has injury has certainly disrupted his campaign, but his lack of goals forced West Ham manager David Moyes to delve into the January transfer market and bring striker Danny Ings to the club.
Ings has also been struggling in the final third, with Michail Antonio another who is failing to hit the heights expected of him in front of goal.
The desperate situation going forward has heaped pressure on Moyes and the club, who currently sit in the Premier League relegation zone.
Italy legend Vieri, who netted 23 goals in 49 appearances for his nation, certainly has a point, with Scamacca nowhere near reaching the levels that many thought he would reach at this stage of his career.