West Ham United captain Declan Rice is adamant his side should be ‘excited’ by Gianluca Scamacca. The Italian has blown the England midfielder away since moving to east London.
Irons boss David Moyes paid Serie A side Sassuolo £30.5m for Scamacca this summer. The striker switched to the Premier League on a five-year contract, with the Hammers holding an option to extend another year. And the 23-year-old is already making an early impact.
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Scamacca boasts six goals through his first 15 appearances in claret-and-blue, striking two in the top-flight and four in Europe. He helped take the Irons into the Europa Conference League group stage with two hits in the qualifiers. His goals have been in separate games.
Scamacca is yet to lose or draw a game in which he has scored for West Ham so far. All six of his goals have led to six wins, beating Viborg (twice), Silkeborg, Anderlecht, Wolves and Fulham. He is yet to provide an assist under Moyes, however, through 780 minutes so far.
Moyes will hope to see Scamacca get onto the scoresheet again when West Ham host AFC Bournemouth on Monday. The Irons have only taken all three points in three of their top-flight fixtures this season. Those matches also account for three of Scamacca’s five starts.
Declan Rice is adamant that West Ham should be ‘excited’ by Gianluca Scamacca
Scamacca’s performances are blowing Rice away and the West Ham captain only expects the nine-cap Italian to get even better. The midfielder believes the forward will grow into an elite forward in east London. He also feels he is very different to their previous strikers.
“I can tell you now he’s going to be unbelievable,” Rice told talkSPORT. “He‘s going to be really, really special. I’ve played with [Michail] Antonio for so many years and he’s done so many good things for this club.
“But he was never an out-and-out striker. He’s been made into a striker, whereas Gianluca is the first out-and-out striker I’ve played with at club level – and he’s just on another level.
“He’s going to be so good for this club. He’s so exciting, the way he plays. We just need to keep playing to his strengths but he’s one we can be excited about for sure. For me, when I look at him I think, ‘wow’. He’s a player that’s got something.”
Scamacca joined West Ham after producing a 16-goal season in Serie A with Sassuolo last term. He was the fifth-best scorer in the Italian top-flight through the 2021/22 campaign. Whereas Antonio joined West Ham from Nottingham Forest in 2015 for £7m as a winger.
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