West Ham have responded on whether the club will be getting a Gianluca Scamacca bonus payment after his Euro win.
Evidence that West Ham gave up on Gianluca Scamacca too soon has been piling up of late.
Hammers fans were divided on Scamacca during and since his brief spell with the club.
Departed West Ham boss David Moyes has been heavily criticised over his handling of Scamacca.
After searching for a top quality striker to replace Sebastien Haller for nearly two years, Moyes essentially gave up on the Italian striker after less than 12 months in east London.
Scamacca was sold him to Atalanta for £27.5m last summer, a loss of £3m.
The former Sassuolo forward was the latest in a long line of forwards who have failed to fire – for one reason or another – at West Ham.
Danny Ings, brought in in the January after Scamacca joined, has suffered a similar fate.
Illness, injuries and a clear lack of research on the type of striker Scamacca is and what he would bring to the team left both the player and Moyes frustrated.
The curious case of Gianluca Scamacca
Moyes looked to have been vindicated initially with Scamacca not pulling up too many trees at Atalanta.
He was even labelled ‘lazy’ by Atalanta’s boss Gian Piero Gasperini at one point.
The former Hammer recently opened up on struggles he has been experiencing.
Since then he has hit a real purple patch.
Not least scoring a brace against Liverpool at Anfield on the way to helping his new side reach the Europa League final.
Scamacca had a fantastic all-round game on Wednesday night as he helped Atalanta beat Bayer Leverkusen – the side who vanquished West Ham in the quarter-finals – 3-0 in the final.
The former Hammer scored some crucial goals in West Ham’s run to European glory.
Now he has lifted back-to-back European trophies. And it means Atalanta have qualified for the Champions League as a result.
But will the Hammers be getting a kick back?
West Ham respond on Scamacca bonus payment
West Ham have responded on whether there is a Scamacca bonus payment due after their Euro win.
Often when players are sold clubs insert various bonus clauses.
When West Ham sold Declan Rice to Arsenal, David Sullivan and co inserted a clause that West Ham would receive £1m each time the Gunners qualified for the Champions League over the next five years.
So Hammers News reached out to the top spokesman inside West Ham to ask whether anything similar was built into Scamacca’s deal.
The answer was short and not very sweet.
“Sadly, no, we don’t have any bonus payments due as a result of Gianluca Scamacca qualifying for the Champions League,” the West Ham spokesman told Hammers News.
Huge frustration over Scamacca
That’s a shame as it would have boosted club coffers and lessened the loss on the striker.
It has been hugely frustrating to watch Scamacca leading the line so well.
Especially as West Ham now need to go out and spend money on a new striker this summer.
Peter Crouch was one of the pundits on TNT Sports for the Europa League final and he noted the irony that ‘West Ham are crying out for a striker like Scamacca’.
No doubt Hammers fans will also have to watch him put in brilliant performances for Italy at this summer’s Euros too.
Just to rub salt in the wound.
Scamacca ended the season with 18 goals and eight assists in 26 starts for Atalanta.