Gianluca Scamacca

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.

Early career
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 2–1 away win against VVV-Venlo, replacing Steven Bergwijn after 61 minutes.

Sassuolo
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 3–1 loss against Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo, coming on as a substitute for Diego Falcinelli in the 85th minute.

Loans to Cremonese, PEC Zwolle, Ascoli and Genoa
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 1–0 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.

Return to Sassuolo
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 2–2. During the 2021–22 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 3–0 loss to AC Milan.

West Ham United
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 £30.5 million, with an additional £5 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 2–0 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 3–1 win. He scored his first league goal for the club in a 2–0 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.

Atalanta
Scamacca joined Atalanta on a permanent deal on 7 August 2023. The reported fee was an initial £22.5 million plus a further £4.3 million in add-ons. On 2 September, he scored a brace in a 3–0 victory over Monza, his first goals for the club. On 11 April 2024, in Atlanta's 3–0 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 1–0 deficit from the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-finals, eventually beating out Fiorentina 4–2 on aggregate to advance to the final against Juventus. On 2 May, he scored the opening goal in a 1–1 away draw against Marseille in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals. On 22 May, Scamacca started in Atalanta's 3–0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2024 Europa League final at the Dublin Arena, setting up Ademola Lookman's third goal of the match.

Youth
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 4–3 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 3–2 against Portugal. He scored his first goal with the Italy U21 team on 6 September 2019, in a friendly match won 4–0 against Moldova. He took part in the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, where he scored two goals.

Senior
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 5–0 home win over Lithuania, coming on as a second–half substitute for Federico Bernardeschi.

Scamacca scored his first senior international goal on 17 October 2023, in Italy's 3–1 UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying loss to England at Wembley Stadium.

Style of play
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 first–time 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 Ibrahimović and 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.

International

 * Italy score listed first, score column indicates score after each Scamacca goal.

Honours
West Ham United
 * UEFA Europa Conference League: 2022–23

Atalanta
 * UEFA Europa League: 2023–24

Italy U19
 * UEFA European Under-19 Championship runner-up: 2018

Individual
 * Coppa Italia top goalscorer: 2019–20 (4 goals, shared with Michele Vano), 2020–21 (4 goals)
 * Serie A Goal of the Month: October 2023