Gianluca Scamacca has explained why Atalanta represent ‘the ideal environment at this moment’ to reboot after his West Ham United experience, despite interest from Inter, Roma and Milan.
The Italy international had only left Sassuolo a year ago for €36m plus another €6m in add-ons and a 10 per cent cut of the sell-on fee.
He was wanted by Roma and Milan, but only on loan with an option to buy, whereas Inter were outbid by Atalanta for €25m plus €5m in performance-related bonuses.
“I chose the best place for me to get back on track and the ideal environment for me at this moment,” Scamacca told the official Atalanta website.
“The director and coach helped me understand they wanted me and shared my ideas. Gasperini told me that I have some hidden qualities and he can see and that is what struck me the most.”
Now 24 years old, Scamacca is surprisingly well-travelled with experiences in Italy, the Netherlands and England, but has never quite been able to express that potential on the field consistently.
Scamacca has faced La Dea as an opponent before when playing for Sassuolo and was impressed with their style of football.
“It was always tough against Atalanta, because they go at such a pace and we had to just pray going into their games. I had a look around Bergamo yesterday and was impressed.
“We are challenging for several different targets and that is motivating. I can’t wait to play at the stadium and to hear the fans cheer.”
Scamacca scored eight times in 27 competitive games for West Ham United, helping them win the Europa Conference League trophy, but never quite felt at ease in England.
Hard to say for sure because there is no doubt WHU are a mess, but Scamacca never seemed to commit to the club and I am not convinced he will do much better anywhere else. That said, WHU will be out of Europe by Christmas and fighting relegation for at least another year, so maybe Scamacca is the smart one after all.