During his interview with Il Corriere della Sera, Christian Vieri admitted he expects more from Gianluca Scamacca at West Ham, but defended Arsenal midfielder Jorginho.
Vieri is the ninth-best scorer in the history of La Nazionale with 23 goals in 49 appearances. He was the leading centre forward of Gli Azzurri between the end of the ’90s and the beginning of the 2000s.
Now that Italy CT Roberto Mancini is facing a selection crisis up front, being forced to call Argentine-born forward Mateo Retegui, Vieri has offered his view on the situation at Coverciano.
“Retegui is promising, he scored a great goal against England and played as a pure centre forward against Malta,” the ex-striker told Il Corriere della Sera.
“Mancio was once again right, Retegui scores goals without many problems, but still has room for improvement.”
Retegui started against England and Malta last week with West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca introduced from the bench in the second half in both matches.
“He [Scamacca] is far behind, I thought he’d get regular playing time at West Ham. He must show something more and score more goals,” noted Vieri.
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Scamacca has been struggling with a knee injury in January and has only made five appearances in 2023.
He has yet to score his first goal in 11 matches with La Nazionale.
Vieri, on the other hand, sees no issues for the Azzurri in the middle of the park.
“The midfield is the only department that leaves me calm,” said the ex-Juventus, Lazio, Inter and Milan striker.
“Marco Verratti, Jorginho and Nicolò Barella are very strong and there are new players behind them. I think of Sandro Tonali, Davide Frattesi and Manuel Locatelli.
“As for the attack, Mancini always needs the best Ciro Immobile and Federico Chiesa. The latter is crucial to Italy and I am also looking forward to the return of Giacomo Raspadori, who plays really well.”