Gianluca Scamacca

Scamacca's move to Atalanta in August 2023 changed how he was seen in Italian football. In his first season at the club he scored 12 goals in Serie A and helped Atalanta win the UEFA Europa League, starting the final and setting up the third goal. Along the way he was named Player of the Match in the quarter-final first leg against Liverpool, scoring twice at Anfield and becoming the first Italian to do so against the English club there.

After coming through the youth ranks at Lazio, Roma and PSV Eindhoven, he joined Sassuolo permanently in January 2017, but spent much of the following seasons away from Sassuolo itself, at Cremonese, PEC Zwolle, Ascoli and Genoa, before West Ham United signed him in July 2022 for around £30.5 million.

His single season in England produced 8 goals in 27 appearances, five of them in the UEFA Europa Conference League as West Ham won the competition, though a injury kept him out of the final itself. Atalanta paid roughly £22.5 million to bring him back to Italy a year later.

At international level, Scamacca made his Italy debut in September 2021 against Lithuania and has since won 22 caps, with his only goal coming against England during Euro 2024 qualifying. He was part of the squad at that tournament. Earlier in his career, in 2016, The Guardian included him among the 60 best young talents, and he also won the Viareggio Cup with Sassuolo's Primavera side that year.