West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca won his tenth senior cap for Italy on Thursday night in their 2-1 defeat to England in Naples.
The £30.5million Hammers striker, who has struggled for game time since returning from a knee injury last month, was a surprise inclusion in Italy’s squad to face England and Malta in their first two qualifying matches for the 2024 European Championships in Germany, having been an unused substitute in each of the Hammers’ last four Premier League matches.
Going into their clash with England at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, reports in the Italian media had suggested that Scamacca was in line to start against England. However, that was not the case, with Argentine-born Mateo Retegui instead being handed a full debut, with Scamacca left on the bench.
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As the 24-year-old Hammers forward was sat for almost the duration on the bench for Gli Azzurri, he saw his own West Ham captain Declan Rice mark his 40th England cap with the opening goal at the end of a corner, before Three Lions captain Harry Kane doubled the lead before half-time from the penalty spot, becoming England’s all-time leading goalscorer in the process.
Retegui, preferred by Roberto Mancini to Scamacca, did mark his debut with a goal in the second half, but Italy fell to their first home defeat to England since May 1961, despite England playing the final ten minutes with ten men after Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw was shown two yellow cards in quick succession.
Scamacca, much like his recent club form, where he has started just once in his last seven matches for West Ham since returning from a knee injury, featured only for the final two minutes of the game as a replacement for Paris Saint-Germain’s Marco Verratti, although Scamacca failed to make a single touch in the match.
It comes in a recent spell that has seen Scamacca dumped by his former agent and fallen down the pecking order at the London Stadium behind Danny Ings and Michail Antonio, despite having been recently linked with interest from Serie A giants Juventus as an option to replace Dusan Vlahovic, if he leaves the Old Lady this summer.
The West Ham forward will hope for more minutes or a start when Italy take on Malta on Sunday, but considering he had his fewest amount of minutes against England in a Italian shirt since making his debut in September 2021, it is a stark reminder of his place in the pecking order for both club and country, especially with a previously uncapped Argentine-born forward now ahead of him.
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