A new claim has been made about a sensational West Ham Gianluca Scamacca swap deal with Milan for a Belgian wonderkid this summer.
If Gianluca Scamacca’s debut season at West Ham has turned out to be something of an anti-climax, then the same can be said for Charles De Ketelaere at AC Milan.
Last week the club president who sold Scamacca to West Ham for £35m claimed he would not be surprised to see the striker move back to Italy in the summer.
There was palpable excitement among Hammers fans when the club ended an 18-month search for a new striker by signing Scamacca from Serie A outfit Sassuolo for an initial £30m – plus £5m in potential add-ons – last summer.
The same was true of 22-year-old Belgium international forward De Ketelaere at Milan when he joined for the same figure.
Both harshly labelled flops but there have been mitigating circumstances
There were flashes of West Ham’s Italian forward bringing more quality and supreme finishing power to the side in the opening few months of the season.
De Ketelaere has been labelled a flop at Milan, failing to score a single goal in 27 appearances. Although only 12 of those have been starts.
The failure of Scamacca and David Moyes to make his move work thus far has proved one of the biggest disappointments of West Ham’s season.
The 6ft 5in Italian has suffered illness and injury this season as West Ham battle to avoid relegation from the Premier League.
Scamacca has been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery recently.
Has Scamacca already played his last game for West Ham?
The striker, who changed agents recently, has been linked with a return to Italy this summer with a host of clubs including both Milan sides, Atalanta, Napoli and Juventus all said to be interested.
Earlier this week it was claimed Juve are seriously considering signing Scamacca as a replacement should Dusan Vlahovic leave.
Now a new claim has been made about a sensational West Ham Scamacca swap deal with Milan for the Belgian wonderkid this summer.
Italian journalist Carlo Pellegatti has revealed that Milan are not necessarily going out of their way to offload De Ketelaere.
But he says colleagues have told him of a loan swap deal being mooted between West Ham and Milan for Scamacca and De Ketelaere.
New claim made about sensational West Ham Gianluca Scamacca swap deal with Milan for Belgian wonderkid this summer
However, Pellegatti does not see Scamacca being anything more than third choice striker at Milan and has therefore questioned whether the alleged swap will materialise.
“Colleagues at TeleLombardia are speculating about an exchange of loans – and we can agree given the similar price – between Charles De Ketelaere and Gianluca Scamacca,” Pellegatti said – as reported by the likes of Sempre Milan.
“As far as I know, I have my sources, the Belgian – barring unforeseen circumstances – Milan do not want to sell, but in the face of interesting offers you can rethink to the situation.
“But the exchange of loans leaves me doubtful, I don’t see Milan relying on (Olivier) Giroud and Scamacca, we need a centre-forward of greater international calibre, or with a more concrete potential…
“Here, Scamacca could be the third striker in place of the former Liverpool player (Divock Origi). It’s a hypothesis, but it seems unlikely to me that De Ketelaere can leave, and Scamacca doesn’t give me all these guarantees.”
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