Italian reporter Luca Marchetti believes Inter Milan could seal a deal for Gianluca Scamacca within the coming week even with Premier League outfit West Ham United expected to reject their opening £17 million bid.
With Declan Rice gone and not yet replaced, further uncertainty surrounding the likes of Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell and the aforementioned Gianluca Scamacca are distractions David Moyes could have done without as a frustrating summer window threatens to undo all the optimism that followed June’s UEFA Conference League success.
Antonio, like Jordan Henderson and co, could find the head-spinning money on offer in the Middle East impossible to resist. Cresswell’s future is still in question too, even as a potential move to Wolves hits the buffers.
Scamacca, meanwhile, was the subject of a £17 million bid from Inter Milan on Monday. And while West Ham are expected to reject that opening offer, per Sky Sports, there is a growing confidence in Italy that the former Sassuolo targetman will be back in Serie A sooner rather than later.
West Ham could sell Gianluca Scamacca to Inter Milan
“There was an important step by Inter,” reporter Luca Marchetti tells Tuttomercatoweb. “After an internal reflection, (Inter) decided to make a concrete offer.”
He believes that, with the new Premier League and Serie A seasons set to begin later this month, West Ham and Inter will look to avoid turning the Scamacca deal into a saga.
“I think they can close (the deal) within a week given the proximity of the start of the new season. In recent days, Inter has also tried to understand Scamacca’s intentions, about which Roma have been strongly involved for some time,” Marchetti adds, suggesting that West Ham’s reluctance to let Scamacca go on loan could scupper Jose Mourinho’s plans of luring the Italy international to the Stadio Olimpico.
“West Ham never opened up (the opportunity) for a loan.
“Inter changed their plans. They first tried understood whether the pact between Rome and Scamacca was solid, but apparently there was room for manoeuvre. And, for this reason, they sank the blow.”
It remains to be seen how much Inter are willing to increase their bid by. West Ham will want to recoup as much of their £35 million investment as possible.
And, as the Nerazzuri’s Serie A rivals Torino are discovering during discussions for Nikola Vlasic, the Hammers will not be forced into accepting a lowball bid.
West Ham want £12 million for Vlasic. Torino, so far, have only offered £9 million.
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