West Ham United's Gianluca Scamacca celebrates scoring their second goal against Fulham
West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca is ‘nowhere near’ ready to start, manager David Moyes has confirmed.
The Lowdown: Scamacca injured
Scamacca has missed the last four games in all competitions with a knee injury, despite initial reports indicating that he would be ready to return for the fixture against Chelsea last weekend.
A more recent update from injury expert Ben Dinnery detailed that the West Ham striker was undergoing plasma treatment to accelerate his return to the first team, but there is no chance he will make the starting XI this weekend.
The Latest: Nowhere near ready
Speaking before the trip to Tottenham Hotspur this weekend, Moyes confirmed that the Italian will not be starting the match, saying: “Look, it’s great that Gianluca’s back but he’s nowhere near ready to be selected. I might try and involve him but I’ve got to say, it would be minimum minutes, he’s just back really.” (via Football London)
The Verdict: Disappointing news
It is disappointing that the 24-year-old will be unavailable to start on Sunday, as Michail Antonio has struggled to provide an attacking threat in recent matches, picking up just one assist in his last four Premier League starts.
Hailed as ‘wonderful’ by journalist Josh Bunting, Scamacca has five goals in all competitions this season, the same amount as Antonio, despite the fact that he has played five less games.
While he has not been clinical in a West Ham shirt up to this point, the £35.5m forward is only in his first season in the Premier League, and needs more consistent game time if he is going to reach the levels he did in the Serie A, having scored 16 goals in 36 games for Sassuolo last season.
As such, Moyes will be hoping the 6 foot 5 colossus will be available to start as soon as possible.
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