West Ham United striker plan emerges as £17million-plus Gianluca Scamacca bid tabled – Dharmesh Sheth
West Ham are expected to reject a bid from Inter for wantaway striker Gianluca Scamacca, according to Dharmesh Sheth.
Roma have been pushing to sign the Italian international on loan this summer, as they try to replace the injured Tammy Abraham, and the 24-year-old has made his desire to head to the Stadio Olimpico if possible public [Gazzetta dello Sport, 12 July].
The Irons have been refusing to accept a loan departure, and want to make their money back to sell Scamcca, so although Inter have now put money on the table it appears the offer will not be acceptable.
Reporting via Twitter on Monday (31 July) Sky Sports reporter Sheth wrote: “West Ham United expected to reject Inter Milan bid for striker Gianluca Scamacca. Offer in region of €20m. West Ham will want degree of certainty on a replacement before sanctioning a move.”
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It is a significant step forward for actual money to be offered up for Scamacca, but it is only about half of what the Irons paid a year ago [Sky Sports].
Unless David Moyes has no interest in working with the former Sassuolo man again following a difficult first season in the Premier League, or the Italian is actually demanding an exit, the club might as well bat away anything that doesn’t come near their valuation.
There is uncertainty over the futures of all three senior West Ham strikers this summer, but a blanket inability to get any incoming deals over the line is clearly making all sales harder.
Even Aaron Cresswell hasn’t been allowed to leave for Wolves as the Hammers strain to sign a new left-back, and the number one priority of all, replacing Declan Rice in midfield, is still not done.
It seems highly unlikely that interest from Italy is going to die down around Scamacca unless he moves or the deadline passes, but without a new option lined up it would be a big risk to let him go.
The entire transfer window has descended into a mess this summer after West Ham actually managed to come away from the Rice deal with what they wanted from Arsenal.
The good news ended there as disagreements behind the scenes since have led to a tangled transfer strategy that has seen numerous offers and approaches, for both incoming and outgoing deals, hit a dead end.
If business was moving along at a decent pace and deals were being tied up in the right order then there might be scope to entertain a Scamacca move, but for a low fee and with the chances of landing an adequate replacement currently looking remote it seems unlikely at this stage.
In other West Ham news, the club have finally decided to make a push for a Chelsea target amid a lack of progress on a host of other moves.