West Ham United transfer news as Gianluca Scamacca makes exit promise in Rome
West Ham United forward Gianluca Scamacca has promised to return to Rome soon, with the Irons demanding a fee of at least £20m for him to depart the London Stadium, according to Gazzetta Dello Sport.
The newspaper reported in its print edition [24 July, pg 8] that Scamacca is aiming for the exit door at the London Stadium and missed the Irons’ pre-season draw against Dagenham and Redbridge as he visited the Italian capital for personal reasons.
With the reported sale of Divock Origi to West Ham by AC Milan, Scamacca will then be allowed to depart East London to join Roma as David Moyes attempts to refresh his attacking options, but the Irons continue to stand firm on their valuation.
They will not allow Scamacca to be sold for any less than £20.7m and although the forward has promised those close to him in Rome he will be back soon, there is still plenty of negotiation required for the two teams to agree a fee.
The Italian striker struggled for form in his first Premier League campaign, only managing to score three goals in 16 appearances, with injury and manger’s preference seeing him make just 11 starts.
A fair price
While it is obvious the 24-year-old forward is desperate to depart the London Stadium, West Ham are being incredibly sensible in their negotiations this summer as they arguably don’t need to sell Scamacca this summer.
While an unhappy player isn’t good to have around any team, the Irons spent a modest transfer fee to bring the Italian to the London Stadium last summer and therefore will expect to recoup a fair amount of that, no matter how difficult a campaign he had last season.
There is also the argument that if Scamacca remains in the English capital for a second year, he may be able to improve his form and provide Moyes with the consistent source of goals he has looked for so desperately this summer, a possibility with much more financial benefit than a cut-price sale this summer.
All-in-all it has been refreshing to see how the Irons have gone about their outgoing business this window, refusing to budge from their valuations of some of their biggest assets. The large sum received for the sale of Declan Rice should allow them to play hardball with Roma in negotiations for the Italian striker’s signature.
In other West Ham news, reports in Spain suggest the Irons are closing in on a deal for Denis Zakaria