West Ham United transfer news: Fabrizio Romano shares update on reported Gianluca Scamacca swap deal with Roma
West Ham are not currently in any swap talks involving wantaway striker Gianluca Scamacca, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Recent reports from Italy had suggested that Roma, who have been chasing the former Sassuolo man all summer, 24, were ready to offer Brazilian defender Roger Ibanez, who has also interested the Irons, in the opposite direction to get the deal over the line.
But that appears not to be the case with Romano also reporting that there has been no change of position at the London Stadium over letting Italy international Scamacca go on loan.
Romano wrote in his Daily Briefing column on Sunday (30 July): “Despite reports, I’m honestly not aware of any swap deal being negotiated with West Ham at this stage…
“Roma have wanted Scamacca since May but they can only proceed on loan with buy option deal covering all his wages. West Ham are simply not accepting that, as of now.
“Roma are waiting and hoping for green light, but West Ham remain firm on their position at this stage.”
Saga
It has arguably proven harder to negotiate a departure that the Irons don’t even seem to want for Scamacca than it was to overcome competition for his signature a year ago.
The long-mooted departure this summer would be a frustrating enough storyline in itself but coupled with the general failure to get any other business done since selling Declan Rice to Arsenal it is all the worse.
If West Ham were motoring along and getting all their necessary business done this summer then perhaps the club would be able to negotiate a temporary exit for the forward after he made clear that he wanted to go to the Stadio Olimpico [Gazzetta dello Sport, 12 July].
But amid a divide behind the scenes on targets between manager David Moyes and technical director Tim Steidten it appears that everything has ground to a halt.
No replacements for the former captain have been brought in, let alone anyone to fill the gap that Scamacca would leave.
And even the unwanted Nikola Vlasic has gone public with his frustrations at being unable to complete a move to Torino [Tuttosport, 28 July].
There must be an element of other clubs wanting to get a preferable deal out of the Hammers this summer after the highly-publicised Rice transfer, but it is hard to escape the conclusion that West Ham are causing their own problems to be making so little process in or out.
Currently it is hard to see any logic in losing Scamacca, despite his struggles, because confidence in replacing him must be through the floor, so he might as well stay even if Ibanez was on offer in return.
In other West Ham news, the club have been in talks with a giant club over two of their players whose manager had planned to be “key”.