Gianluca Scamacca, the ‘Big Man with a Good Touch’
Lazio, Roma, PSV, Sassuolo, Cremonese, PEC Zwolle, Ascoli, Genoa. This isn’t the usual career path that one of the most promising youth players in Italian football takes. But then again, Gianluca Scamacca isn’t your usual player. Six foot five inches tall (or 1.96m if you work that way), tattooed up to his neck and with somewhat of an interesting family — whether that be his father smashing executives cars at Roma or his grandfather threatening a man at knifepoint in a bar — the Roman-born attacker is the classic example of you should never judge a book by its cover.
While Scamacca may look like one of those footballers that get characterised with the ‘I wouldn’t like to meet them in a dark alley’ phrase, he plays with the elegance and beauty that is often associated with the country that he hails from. At twenty-three years of age and having his best season to date — 0.67 goals per ninety minutes played — he appears to be ready for the next step.
With the newspaper talk already back in full flow after January, his most likely destination will be Internazionale — if rumours are to be believed. I’ve taken a dive into what Sassuolo’s young striker excels at, and where he can improve.
The Story So Far
As mentioned above, Scamacca has had an unusual route into senior football. He’s also not had the smoothest. Most young attackers gather momentum when they are young, they score consistently at some level or have a flurry of goals after their debut (see Rashford’s electric start to his United career, or Haaland’s incredible Salzburg record). By the time the Italian had turned twenty, he had just one league goal to his name — for Cremonese in a Serie B match against Palermo.
While he may have been tall for his age, he was physically underdeveloped and didn’t possess the strength to deal with the type of central defenders you might come to expect in Italian football. Since then, he’s managed to grow into his body, and into himself as a footballer. The loan system has benefited him massively. He spent the 2019/20 season in Serie B with Ascoli, scoring 9 goals (0.35 per ninety), and then made the step up into Serie A with Genoa in 2020/21 scoring 8 goals (0.53 per ninety). If last season people began to whisper his name in the top young talents conversation, this one they are shouting it. He has already his best return in a season so far with 9 goals (at an incredible 0.67 per ninety) and his all-around game is becoming much more developed.
For some extra context for what will follow below, Sassuolo play predominantly with a 4231 or 433 this season under Alessio Dionisi, with an emphasis on verticality and a continuation on the attacking principles that Roberto De Zerbi imprinted on the club. Scamacca plays as the ‘9’ and is usually accompanied in the attack by another fantastic young talent in Giacomo Raspadori and Euro 2020 winner Domenico Berardi.
Scout Report
While Scamacca’s height and frame might make him typecast as a target man, he is actually a much more versatile player than that. He is a willing runner and isn’t afraid to work in the channels or drop deeper to receive the ball. As we can see via his season heatmap from SofaScore, while he predominantly operates in the central areas, he is more than able to drop into the midfield areas, our out wide in order to get the ball at his feet. This is further backed up by his 18.93 touches per ninety in the middle third of the pitch, ranking in the 68th percentile for his position.
As you might have gathered from the title of this piece, the Italian is very skilled with the ball at his feet. Scamacca has more often than not played for sides in the middle to the bottom end of the table, which may not have showcased his abilities in the best way, but it has helped him grow as a player. For example, he is an effective player to play long balls into, as the ball sticks to him and he is able to then hold the ball, lift his head up and relieve the pressure on his defence (this was seen a lot at Genoa last season).
If we look at this clip from Tiago Estevao on Twitter, we can see one example of how good the striker can be in the build up (@ 0:21). He drops back into the center circle to receive the ball and plays a deft touch around the corner to his teammate, taking the defender marking him out of the game completely before being fouled.
This is just one incident of Scamacca’s quite incredible skill on the ball, and I urge you to visit YouTube (or wherever you get your video fix) and watch the Italian’s mesmerising feet to the tune of the worst dubstep you’ve ever heard.
Of course, when we’re speaking about attackers, there is one thing that comes to the forefront of every conversation — goals. Last season it was a criticism of the striker, scoring eight league goals for albeit a very poor Genoa side (from 7.3 expected goals, ranked 34th in total in Serie A). This season, however, he appears to have made a step up in the goalscoring department. His expected goals per ninety has largely stayed the same from last season (0.49 vs. 0.5) but he has more league goals this season than any other campaign previously with nine. He currently ranks in the top seventh percentile for non-penalty goals per ninety in the last 365 days compared to his positional peers (0.65), as well as the top sixteenth percentile for non penalty expected goals per ninety (0.48).
His goalscoring is improving, and one notable strength of the Roman is the technique he uses to strike the ball. I’m sure if you’ve been on Twitter you’ve seen his goal vs. AC Milan this season, but here it is again so we can watch it in all of its glory:
‘Blink and you’ll miss it’ comes to mind for Scamacca’s shooting technique. He is able to put so much strength into a shot with what looks like so little effort. Goals like the one above aren’t just a one-off either, he is often seen trying the impossible and pulls it off more than any normal human should be able to. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t score more conventional goals, he is able to — as you’d expect from a 6ft5 striker — use his head to great effect (2.13xG this season), and act as the poacher/off the shoulder attacker. But goals like this only improve Scamacca’s overall game, with the knowledge he can punish you with even an inch of space, defenders can’t afford him any space, which then opens up attacking areas for his talented teammates in Raspadori & Berardi.
If there is one criticism of Scamacca, then it would probably be the shots he does take. Long-range goals are the pinnacle of the sport when they go in, but they rarely often do. Let's take a look at the Italian’s shot map (via Understat):
As we can see, there are a lot of shots from outside of the box, but just two of these have found the net this season. His goals — as expected — come from the dangerous areas. This can often be to the frustration of his team and coaches. He can often have his head down and take a shot that has little chance of going in. This can of course be coached to a degree, and it is still something that makes Scamacca dangerous, but doing it on a less frequent basis may be beneficial to the Italian’s consistency.
As ever in the modern game, attackers are now expected to do a lot more. Attackers that put in little to no defensive work stand out like a sore thumb in modern football (I know we’re all thinking about the same person right now). Scamacca — shaped by his experiences in Serie B & Serie A relegation battles — puts up very good defensive numbers. He currently ranks in the top 32nd percentile for pressures per ninety, the top 23rd percentile for tackles per ninety, and the top 27th percentile for interceptions per ninety. While none of these are exactly the top in his position, his overall defensive profile is extremely solid, and it shows an ability to adapt to his surroundings. If he does join a Champions League level side, these numbers would expect to drop, but he has shown in tougher surroundings that he’s willing to pull his weight and offer value off the ball and out of possession that is valuable in the modern game.
What’s Next?
The striker still has several months left of this season and the short-term goal for the Italian should be to firstly hit double figures (he’s currently one goal off) and aim for somewhere around 15 league goals. Sassuolo are out of the Coppa Italia and European football seems too unrealistic after an inconsistent season.
The summer will likely see a move for Scamacca, and it seems increasingly likely that this will be to Inter Milan. I’ll look to write a piece on his suitability for the Scudetto winners of last season, but this move and him being the successor to Edin Dzeko seems like a natural progression and excellent next step.
If not Inter, another Champions League side will take a chance on Scamacca, and I’d expect him to thrive in most environments. I’ve avoided comparisons to other players (most notably Vlahovic) in this piece, but his ability and underlying numbers rival that of the young strikers around him. With a place in the starting eleven of Italy’s World Cup squad up for grabs this year (in the event that they win their playoff ties), consistent improvement in all areas of his game will be expected, and more consistent goals will be near enough to ensure a place on the plane to Qatar in December.
The underlying numbers are there, and the improvement can be seen on the pitch. It feels that the hype around Gianluca Scamacca is simmering, and sooner rather than later it will explode. Italy needs its next great number nine, and Scamacca has all the tools to be that guy.
