Gianluca Scamacca has left West Ham for Atalanta. It seems astonishing that we spent a season and a half with only Antonio as a striker and then bought the wrong one. After an initial virus, he started quite well, but then seemed strangely diffident. He seemed to be carrying an injury and missed the second part of the season after having an operation. Scamacca clearly had quality as his long-range goal against Leeds and thumping shot against Wolves showed, and I'd have liked to see what he could do this season.
If he was homesick then that is perhaps something the club should have spotted when they researched him. While Moyes clearly didn't think he put himself about enough, but then again that should have come up when we scouted him. Maybe his head was turned by another signing-on fee. At least we've only lost about £5m on Luca, as the add-ons were never activated on his £30.5m fee. So we're down to Antonio, Ings and Mubama up front. Scamacca has proved a costly mistake (hopefully the sort of thing technical director Tim Steidten can prevent). So we can now expect Luca to have a great season in Italy... but at least there is more money in the kitty for new signings.
