West Ham and Azzuri centre-forward Gianluca Scamacca will miss the remainder of the season after having an operation on his injured knee on Friday.
West Ham manager David Moyes declared that the 24-year-old needed the operation after Hammers’ 1-1 draw with Gent in the Conference League on Thursday evening.
Scamacca himself confirmed via Instagram on Friday morning that he had been under the knife, posting a photo from his hospital bed with the caption: “Surgery done. No doubt I’ll come back stronger than before.”
It was later reported by Gianluca Di Marzio that Scamacca would miss West Ham’s remaining nine league games and any further ties in Europe while he recovers from the operation.
The former Sassuolo striker picked up the initial injury to his knee while away on international duty with Roberto Mancini’s Italy side in March and has not featured for his club since then.
Scamacca had struggled to cement a place in the West Ham starting line-up before then, despite his €36 million transfer fee in the summer.
The out-of-favour forward has racked up eight goals from 27 appearances across all competitions this term, but only three of those have come in the Premier League.