Everyone knows West Ham and strikers mix like oil and water at the best of times but the Hammers will be cursing David Moyes after a galling new Gianluca Scamacca claim.
Did West Ham – and more specifically David Moyes – give up on Gianluca Scamacca far too soon?
That has been the divisive question that raises its intriguing head almost every time anything of significance happens regarding the 6ft 5in tattooed Italian striker.
Now it looks like the big Scamacca question may have been definitively answered once and for all, much to the chagrin of West Ham’s owners and fans.
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Now a new claim about Scamacca will have West Ham rueing former manager Moyes calling time on the Atalanta forward after just one season.
Fans were divided when the Hammers sold Scamacca to Atalanta for a £3m loss after signing him for £30m just 12 months before.
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Moyes took a lot of stick over his handling of the former Sassuolo star, who became the latest in a long line of forwards to struggle – for one reason or another – after joining West Ham.
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Tall, powerful and with a shot like a traction engine, Scamacca seemed to have everything you would want in a modern Premier League striker.
Gianluca Scamacca shows his frustration at West Ham
Photo by Paul Harding/Getty Images
But Hammers fans viewed the fact things didn’t work out as further damning evidence of the ‘West Ham striker curse’.
There has been plenty more evidence where that came from since with the likes of Niclas Fullkrug and Evan Ferguson proof it is more than just a conspiracy theory.
Moyes looked to have been vindicated over his decision to ship Scamacca back to Serie A.
Because a couple of months into the return to his homeland, then manager Gian Piero Gasperini publicly slammed Scamacca suggesting he was lazy and had to work harder for the team.
Scamacca has since opened up on feelings of depression and was ruled out for almost a year with serious knee injuries.
Moyes gave up on Scamacca too soon at West Ham and would kill for him at Everton
The former Hammer has scored nine goals and laid on three assists in just 17 starts since his return to action, though.
It is that form and his all-round game which are attracting admiring glances from the Premier League again and may soon haunt West Ham – and have the Hammers board and supporters cursing Moyes.
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West Ham United's Lucas Paqueta celebrates after his side had scored their third goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Newcastle United at London Stadium on November 2, 2025 in London, England.
According to European football expert Andy Brassell, a shortage of forwards of Scamacca’s ilk is making the Hammers flop a potential target for a surprise return to England.
Brassell says Scamacca is looking more dangerous and effective than ever.
And he believes it could persuade other Premier League clubs to look past his difficult spell with West Ham and move for him in the summer.
Gianluca Scamacca of Atalanta looks on
Photo by Gabriel Calvino Alonso/BSR Agency/Getty Images
“You know what? If he hadn’t failed at West Ham already, people would be looking at Gianluca Scamacca and the way he’s played over the last couple of months and thinking, ‘Yeah, some Premier League club is going to pick him up’,” Brassell told talkSPORT.
“I think people would judge him less harshly if he hadn’t picked up that ACL injury relatively soon after going to Atalanta because that made him sort of leave West Ham and then sort of fade from view.
“But the way he’s played since he’s come back the way he’s played in the first half of this season he’s been really good. He’s looked dangerous.
“Everything he does in the game in terms of fighting defenders in terms of holding the ball up I look at him and I’m like if you didn’t know he’d been at West Ham and you just didn’t know who he was; if he was just some random player you’d think yeah this guy would do a great job in the Premier League if you had no idea of the history at all.
“So if it wasn’t for his age and injury history and the fact that he’d fallen at least partly flat on his face in the Premier League, people would be looking at him in an entirely different way.
“He’s a problem.”
Scamacca certainly is a problem for West Ham – one they may live to regret for years to come.
And ironically Moyes would probably kill for a striker like Scamacca at Everton right now.
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