West Ham United ‘open up’ to Gianluca Scamacca exit option as Tuesday transfer talks scheduled

West Ham have “opened up” to the idea of letting Gianluca Scamacca leave ahead of new talks with Roma set for Tuesday.

The Italian striker is a key target for the Europa League finalists amid heavy links to a Serie A return after just one difficult season in the Premier League.

The Hammers had previously been demanding most of the money they spent in signing the £35.5million man from Sassuolo last summer in a straight sale or else he was expected to to remain part of David Moyes’ squad for next term.

But with Roma chief Tiago Pinto set to return to England in an attempt to push a deal over the line for the 24-year-old it seems the stance at the London Stadium is softening ahead of the new talks in two day’s time (11 July).

La Repubblica report in their Sunday morning update (9 July) that the Irons want a €35m [£29.9m] obligation at the end of a loan deal, with Scamacca having “chosen” Roma, and as Jose Mourinho’s side “try to speed up the negotiations” this week the deal possibilities have “opened up”.

Pay or play

Roma clearly can’t afford the kind of money that West Ham paid for the Italian international and would want in return if he is to go right now.

His difficulties through his first year in England probably make a return to the league where he has thrived, for the team he is believed to support, holds obvious attraction.

But top flight football clubs and international players can’t always take the simple option, so unless he is actively pushing for a move there doesn’t look to be a huge benefit to West Ham to let him go on loan.

Even a sale at this point would be to admit defeat on a big-money transfer very early, which isn’t always the worst thing to do, but bigger names than Scamacca have taken more than a year to adapt to English football and gone on to thrive.

Nobody covered themselves in glory at West Ham last season, not least Moyes himself, until the late triumph in the Europa Conference League changed the entire outlook at the club.

Scamacca had contributed in the early rounds but by the crunch knock-outs his season had been ended by injury, so if he had been involved then this exit might not even be in question.

The Irons will probably need to sign two viable alternatives this summer and be financially capable of seeing little transfer return on the big-money forward to allow the loan without an obligation, and while that isn’t impossible it feels unlikely at this stage.