The coach who found David Moyes target Gianluca Scamacca says West Ham could be about to sign the new Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
West Ham have been linked with Italy international Scamacca all summer.
Last weekend Sky Sports Italy were ‘confident’ West Ham were on the verge of signing £43m striker Scamacca from Sassuolo.
That came after the Neoverdi’s director Giovanni Carnevali confirmed West Ham had outbid PSG for the 6ft 5in tattooed Italy international (Football Italia).
But a West Ham insider speaking to Claret and Hugh then claimed Moyes had cooled his interest in Scamacca just as the Hammers looked to be making real progress.
It has been a hugely frustrating week for everyone connected with West Ham.
On Monday a host of reliable sources were claiming the Hammers were closing on signing the likes of Armando Broja, Scamacca, Amadou Onana and Jesse Lingard.
Newly-promoted Nottingham Forest have beaten the Hammers to Lingard while other deals have appeared to hit a brick wall.
So it is understandable Moyes’ frustrations boiled over with his transfer ultimatum to the Hammers board following the defeat to Rangers in midweek.
And Sky Sports are reporting this evening that West Ham have made a new official bid for Scamacca.
Now the coach who found Moyes target Scamacca says West Ham could be about to sign the new Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
And it touches on the striker’s decision as a teenager to leave Roma’s academy and join PSV Eindhoven.
In light of West Ham’s interest in Scamacca, Pascal Jansen – the coach of PSV’s academy at the time of the Italian’s arrival – has been interviewed about the striker by Sky Sports.
Jansen claims Scamacca likes to seek out new challenges and that the 6ft 5in forward could be the heir apparent to football great Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Scamacca’s former coach also says he is not surprised the striker looks set to take another big step in his career.
“Italian kids dream of playing in Italy but Gianluca is different now and he was different then,” Jansen told Sky Sports.
“He looks for the challenges.
“We scouted him, we went there, we looked at him and obviously he was playing with much smaller kids than he was at the time because he is a big boy now and he was a big boy then. We got him to feel confident in us and he chose our programme in Eindhoven…
“His instinct in front of goal was his strength back then and it is his strength now. He was strong with his head, obviously, because that was the skill that he had developed from a young age…
“What I like about him is that he has kept the faith in progressing and just developed himself. Over the past few years, he has shown everybody that he is not only big but he understands the game and is capable of playing in a top league.
“He has followed his dream back in Italy with Sassuolo, scored his goals and played for the national team. He has done really well and it does not surprise me that he is about to take another big step in his career because he is a very talented striker.”