Gianluca Scamacca (born 1 January 1999) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Atalanta and the Italy national team.
Scamacca previously played for Jong PSV, Sassuolo and West Ham United, with loans at Cremonese, PEC Zwolle, Ascoli and Genoa. He made his senior international debut for Italy in 2021.
A product of the youth academies of Lazio and Roma, Scamacca joined PSV Eindhoven in January 2015. He made his professional debut in Eerste Divisie as a Jong PSV player on 22 January 2016, aged 17, in a 2âÂÂ1 away win against VVV-Venlo, replacing Steven Bergwijn after 61 minutes.
In January 2017, he was signed by Italian club Sassuolo on a four-and-a-half-year deal. On 29 October, at age 18, he made his Serie A debut in a 3âÂÂ1 loss against Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo, coming on as a substitute for Diego Falcinelli in the 85th minute.
In January 2018, Scamacca joined Serie B club Cremonese on loan. He scored his first professional goal on 14 April 2018, in the league match against Palermo.
On 31 August 2018, Scamacca joined Eredivisie club PEC Zwolle on loan. He made his debut on 2 September 2018 in the away league match won 1âÂÂ0 against Groningen.
On 13 July 2019, he joined Serie B club Ascoli on loan.
On 2 October 2020, Scamacca joined Genoa in the Serie A on a season-long loan.
In summer 2021, Scamacca returned to Sassuolo, coached by Alessio Dionisi. On 17 October, he scored his first goals with the neroverdi, scoring a brace in an away game against his former team, Genoa, helping his side draw 2âÂÂ2. During the 2021âÂÂ22 season, he played as a starter alongside Domenico Berardi and Giacomo Raspadori in attack, and ended the season with 16 league goals. He made his last appearance to the club on 22 May 2022 in a 3âÂÂ0 loss to AC Milan.
On 26 July 2022, Scamacca signed for Premier League club West Ham United on a five-year contract with an option for a further year. The transfer fee paid to Sassuolo was reportedly of ã30.5 million, with an additional ã5 million in add-ons. A 10% sell-on clause for the Italian team was also reportedly included in the deal.
Scamacca made his West Ham and Premier League debut coming on as a second-half substitute for Michail Antonio in a 2âÂÂ0 home defeat to Manchester City on 7 August 2022. His first goal for West Ham came in his third game, on 18 August, in the play-off round of the UEFA Conference League against Viborg; he scored the first goal of an eventual 3âÂÂ1 win. He scored his first league goal for the club in a 2âÂÂ0 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on 1 October 2022. He scored only three Premier League goals and, due to a knee injury which required surgery, did not feature for the club after March 2023, thus missing their 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League final win. He spent only a single season at West Ham, scoring eight goals in 27 appearances, including five in West Ham's run to win the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Scamacca joined Atalanta on a permanent deal on 7 August 2023. The reported fee was an initial ã22.5 million plus a further ã4.3 million in add-ons. On 2 September, he scored a brace in a 3âÂÂ0 victory over Monza, his first goals for the club. On 11 April 2024, in Atlanta's 3âÂÂ0 Europa League quarter-final first leg victory, Scamacca became the first Italian to score a brace against Liverpool at Anfield. On 24 April, Scamacca scored a goal and set-up another (in addition to having a second goal disallowed) to help overturn a 1âÂÂ0 deficit from the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-finals, eventually beating out Fiorentina 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate to advance to the final against Juventus. On 2 May, he scored the opening goal in a 1âÂÂ1 away draw against Marseille in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals. On 22 May, Scamacca started in Atalanta's 3âÂÂ0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2024 Europa League final at the Dublin Arena, setting up Ademola Lookman's third goal of the match.
In early August 2024, he sustained a serious ACL injury which would sideline him for months.
As a member of the Italy U17 side, Scamacca took part at the 2015 and 2016 editions of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship.
With Italy U19, Scamacca took part in the 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, and scored two goals in the tournament, including one in the 4âÂÂ3 final loss against Portugal after extra time. The following year he took part at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup with the Italy U20 squad, finishing in fourth place.
On 25 May 2018, Scamacca made his debut with the Italy U21 team in a friendly match lost 3âÂÂ2 against Portugal. He scored his first goal with the Italy U21 team on 6 September 2019, in a friendly match won 4âÂÂ0 against Moldova. He took part in the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, where he scored two goals.
He received his first call up to the senior Italy squad for the team's 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September 2021. He made his senior debut on 8 September, in a 5âÂÂ0 home win over Lithuania, coming on as a secondâÂÂhalf substitute for Federico Bernardeschi.
Scamacca scored his first senior international goal on 17 October 2023, in Italy's 3âÂÂ1 UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying loss to England at Wembley Stadium.
Scamacca is a tall, right-footed centre-forward, with an eye for goal, who is known for his explosive physical strength, and powerful shot, which allows him to score goals from both inside and outside the penalty area, even from acrobatic firstâÂÂtime shots. Despite his size, he is a technical player, who possesses flair and a good first touch, and is known for his tendency to drop deep, move freely about the attacking third, and link-up with his teammates, which sees him operate almost as a second striker at times, rather than as a traditional striker who mainly operates inside the box. As such, he has occasionally been used in a role which is known as the centravanti di manovra in Italian football jargon, which is comparable to the modern false nine role, with Scamacca seemingly playing as a lone striker, but often dropping deep to participate in the build-up of attacking plays. While effective in the air and at holding up the ball, due to his height and powerful physique, his aerial game has been cited as being in need of improvement by pundits, something which Scamacca himself has admitted, as he prefers to play the ball on the ground; he was able to improve his aerial game during his time at Atalanta under manager Gian Piero Gasperini. Although he is not gifted with significant pace, he is mobile for a player of his size. Scamacca has cited former strikers Zlatan Ibrahimoviàand Gabriel Batistuta as some of his inspirations, and has even been compared to the former player by pundits due to his physique and playing style. Once considered to be a promising player in the media, in 2016, he was named one of the "60 of the best young talents in world football" by The Guardian in 2016.
West Ham United
Atalanta
Italy U19
Individual