West Ham and Julen Lopetegui have started their 2024/25 Premier League campaign with one win and two losses, currently sitting 13th on three points, heading into the international break.
Despite the new striker addition, Michail Antonio has kept his spot up front so far in the Premier League, starting all three of their fixtures in the competition so far, with new signing Niclas Füllkrug starting in the EFL cup, and coming from the bench in the league.
Fullkrug made 46 appearances in all competitions for Dortmund last season, scoring 16 goals, providing ten assists, and totalling 3,605 minutes played.
Funnily enough, that's not quite as many as one former Iron managed…
Scamacca's time at West Ham
Back in the summer of 2022, West Ham signed Gianluca Scamacca from Sassuolo, joining the club for a whopping £35.5m, and signing a five-year deal at the club.
In his one and only season at the club, Scamacca made 27 appearances in all competitions, scoring eight goals, and totaling 1,342 minutes played. The Italian only managed three Premier League goals in his time with the Hammers.
Scamacca did suffer four injuries, three coming in the second half of the season in 2022/23, missing a total of 172 days, and 27 games.
This included the forward having knee surgery in April, and missing the end of the campaign. It's safe to say his spell in east London wasn't the best.
After his injury-ridden season, reports started to emerge that Scamacca wanted to return to Italy, and this eventually saw the centre-forward move to Atalanta after just one hopeless year in England.
What Scamacca has done after leaving West Ham
Since his return to Serie A, Scamacca has won the Europa League, even defeating Liverpool in the process. He made 44 appearances for Atalanta in all competitions, scoring 19 times and providing eight assists in 2,319 minutes played which is form that saw him made the starting striker for Italy at Euro 2024, where they lost 2-0 to Switzerland in the round of 16.
As a result, the 25-year-old outscored West Ham's new striker signing, Fullkrug, in the 2023/24 campaign. So, the question is, did West Ham make a mistake selling him so early? Scout Jacek Kulig once described Scamacca as a "deadly" asset and he could already be rediscovering that prolific form in Italy.
Stats (per 90 mins)
Scamacca
Fullkrug
Goals
0.74
0.40
Assists
0.27
0.25
xG
0.47
0.48
Progressive Carries
1.43
0.76
Progressive Passes
2.27
2.28
Total Shots
3.74
2.34
Shots on Target
1.56
0.93
Goals/Shot
0.20
0.13
Touches (Att Pen)
5.59
4.46
Aerials Won
1.60
3.49
A carry is considered progressive if the ball is moved towards the opponent's goal at least 10 yards from its starting point or is carried into the penalty area.
Scamacca outperformed Fullkrug in many metrics last season, including both goals and assists. His goals per 90 were nearly double that of Fullkrug, scoring at a rate of 0.20 goals/shot, compared to the Germans' 0.13 ratio.
The Italian took 3.74 shots per 90, averaging 1.56 shots on target, which is a better shooting volume than Fullkrug, and gives him that extra edge as a goal threat. His box touches sitting at 5.59 per 90 also helps, as he averages more touches in the box, where he can be most dangerous.
One area Fullkrug did outperform Scamacca last campaign was in the aerials won metric, despite being 6 foot 2, compared to Scamacca who is 6 foot 5, the former actually managed more than double the aerials won per 90 than the former Hammer.
Scamacca has now suffered a cruciate ligament tear which looks set to keep him out for at least 6 months, so maybe the injury issues at West Ham were enough for them to look elsewhere, but one thing is for sure, when he is fit and firing, there are few as prolific in Italy.
Where Are They Now
Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast's Where Are They Now series.