There is more misery for West Ham star Gianluca Scamacca after a brutal new call from Italy boss Roberto Mancini.
Things seem to be going from bad to worse for £35m West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca.
Scamacca’s debut season with West Ham has not worked out for him or the club thus far.
He has been an unused substitute in West Ham’s last four Premier League games.
And Hammers boss David Moyes has publicly criticised the striker’s output in training leading to rumours of a falling out between the pair and suggestions the player is a bad apple – something the Scot flatly denied before the international break.
Scamacca did start – and score – in the easy win over Larnaca in the Europa Conference League last Thursday night.
But he was substituted after just 55 minutes sparking further criticism of Moyes, who had to defend his decision after the game.
Last week Azzurri boss Roberto Mancini sent a clear message to Moyes over the Scamacca situation. He told the Scot the striker cannot improve if he doesn’t play.
Scamacca was billed as the future of the national side by Mancini when he arrived at West Ham from Sassuolo for £35m in the summer.
But he was relegated to the bench by Argentinian forward Mateo Retegui – who only qualifies for Italy through the “Irish granny” rule.
Retegui plays his football in Mexico but started ahead of Scamacca and scored when Italy played England on Thursday night.
Scamacca got just a few minutes at the end of that 2-1 defeat and failed to touch the ball.
More misery for West Ham star Gianluca Scamacca after brutal new call from Italy boss Roberto Mancini
And there is more misery for West Ham star Scamacca after a brutal new call from Italy boss Mancini.
Because Mancini has made no fewer than EIGHT changes to his Italy team for a clash against minnows Malta but West Ham forward Scamacca still can’t get a look in.
Italy play Malta in a 7.45pm kick off but Scamacca is on the bench again with Retegui up front. There was some good news for a West Ham player, though, with Emerson Palmieri coming into the Italy starting XI.
Roberto Mancini has made wholesale changes bringing in Emerson, Giorgio Scalvini, Alessio Romagnoli, Sandro Tonali, Matteo Pessina, Bryan Cristante, Matteo Politano and Leeds United’s Wilfried Gnonto.
It is a damning indictment of where Scamacca is at right now. He can’t get a kick for West Ham in the Premier League.
And it has cost him his place in an Italy side where there is a dearth of striker talent – by the manager’s own admission.
For West Ham’s sake let’s hope Scamacca can force his way back into that Italy team come the summer because it will mean he has been doing the business for the Hammers during the run-in.
The silver lining for West Ham boss David Moyes is that it limits the chances of Scamacca being injured ahead of next weekend’s huge relegation six-pointer against Southampton.