West Ham simply won’t believe what’s happened to Gianluca Scamacca now. Things didn’t work out for Gianluca Scamacca during his solitary season with West Ham and he’s been hit by a devastating new blow.
When West Ham decided to sell Gianluca Scamacca to Atalanta for £27.5m it divided opinion among fans. The Hammers gave up on Scamacca after just one season, taking a £3m loss as the Italian was shipped out in August 2023.
Then boss David Moyes was criticised over his handling of the 6ft 5in striker, who became the latest in a long line of strikers to flop – for one reason or another – at West Ham.
Scamacca was not the first and certainly wasn’t the last – as Danny Ings and Niclas Fullkrug have proved since.
Fans are convinced the West Ham striker curse is real. There’s certainly been plenty of evidence to suggest it is.
Samacca’s move to West Ham simply did not work out as he or the club would have hoped. He did score some very important goals for the Hammers in Europe, though, playing his part in ending the club’s 43-year trophy drought.
Scamacca struggled initially on returning home to Italy. And it was seen as a vindication of sorts for West Ham’s decision to offload the tattooed star.
West Ham won’t believe what’s happened to Scamacca now. He turned things around, though, and not only ended the season with 18 goals and seven assists, but yet another European trophy.
That included six goals – some of them absolute barnstormers – during Atalanta’s unforgettable run to winning the Europa League when they became the only side to beat Bayer Leverkusen last season. There were suggestions Scamacca did not care enough or had an attitude problem at West Ham.
But Scamacca has since opened up on his mental health struggles at West Ham when dealing with the injuries and illness that blighted his time at the London Stadium.
So he will be in the thoughts of Hammers supporters given news out of Atalanta today. Back in August West Ham finally signed a replacement for Scamacca in Fullkrug.
In the same week, Scamacca suffered a serious knee injury playing for Atalanta.
Scamacca collided with the Parma goalkeeper and caught his studs in the turf, falling awkwardly.
The striker, who spent several months out with knee issues during his time with the Hammers, was then ruled out for the reason of the season with an ACL tear.
West Ham simply won’t believe what’s happened to Scamacca now. Devastating new blow for ex Hammers striker. The striker made his return to action earlier than expected when Atalanta played Torino at the weekend.
Scamacca came on as a second half sub in a 1-1 draw. But the former West Ham striker was stuck down again with a new injury in his first game back for six months.
The injury has required a specialist operation in Barcelona and will rule Scamacca out until next season.
“Atalanta announce that Gianluca Scamacca underwent surgical treatment to repair the injury to the proximal muscle-tendon junction of his right rectus femoris,” Atalanta said in an official statement.
“The procedure, carried out by Dr. Ramon Cugat Betomeu and his team at the Quironsalud Hospital in Barcelona, was deemed a complete success.” Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio claims Scamacca will not return to the field until next season.
