Former Inter Milan and Italy striker Christian Vieri has said that West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca is “far behind” what had been hoped for him in the Premier League.
The 24-year-old has scored eight times for the Hammers since his £30.5million arrival for Sassuolo last summer. However, just three of those goals have been in the Premier League, with the other five coming in the Europa Conference League.
Following his return from a knee injury in February, Scamacca has struggled for minutes and has been an unused substitute in each of the Hammers’ last four Premier League matches, with Danny Ings, Michail Antonio and Maxwel Cornet all getting minutes ahead of him in the league up front.
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Scamacca was a surprise inclusion in Italy’s squad for their first round of qualification matches against England and Malta, playing just two minutes in the 2-1 defeat to the Three Lions without touching the ball before getting 24 minutes in a 2-0 win in Malta.
Scamacca’s price and impressive 21/22 season with Sassuolo saw him arrive in England with big expectations and while he has shown signs of promise, it has been a largely below par campaign for him.
Vieri, whose playing career saw him score 130 goals in Serie A for the likes of Inter Milan, AC Milan and Lazio, and score 23 times in 49 caps for Italy, has said that he expected Scamacca to get more minutes in London, adding he must show more sides to his game.
“He (Scamacca) is far behind, I thought he’d get regular playing time at West Ham,” Vieri told II Corriere della Sera.
“He must show something more and score more goals.”
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