Gianluca Scamacca is one of Italy’s brightest young striker prospects, excelling consistently for his country with the U-21’s, but has not been able to consistently find the same level of success at club level. Born in the Italian capital, Scamacca played at youth level for both sides of the Derby della Capitale (Lazio and Roma), before moving to the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven. Scamacca made zero appearances for the senior team, instead featuring for Jong PSV. After a few seasons in Eindhoven, Scamacca returned to Italy with Sassuolo, but so far, he hasn’t been able to force his way through to the starting 11. Since joining, subsequent loan spells at Cremonese, PEC Zwolle, and Ascoli have followed, before joining Genoa this season, where he has started to find more consistent game time. This following scout report will analyze where Scamacca excels, and what he needs to work on to become a consistent regular for a club, whether that be Sassuolo, or elsewhere.
Tactical
For Genoa, Scamacca plays as one of the two strikers in Davide Ballardini’s 3-5-2 system. However, Scamacca has not been able to become a regular starter for Il Grifone, with the likes of Goran Pandev, Mattia Destro, Eldor Shomurodov, and even Marko Pjaca getting the nod ahead of him up top. With that being said, Scamacca is almost always able to make an impact off the bench when brought on by Ballardini. His movement, as well as his physical presence (discussed later), allow him to bring a change of pace to the Genoa attack. With Genoa not being a high pressing side, Scamacca does not often press the central defenders when they are in possession, however, he will move to cut off passing lanes between defense and midfield, as well as between the two CB’s to force the ball forward if needed.
When it comes to Scamacca’s positional awareness, he does well to scan the field and look for space in behind to run into, as well as looking over his shoulder for the positions of the opposition defenders before asking for the ball at his feet. He does have a good work rate defensively, and will track back to help out in the defensive third of the pitch if he senses that his teammates need assistance. A downside though is his tendency to occasionally switch off while in a defensive phase, with you sometimes being able to hear Ballardini screaming his name for him to get back into his position or close down the opposition player in possession.
Technical
When it comes to Scamacca’s technical qualities and playing with the ball at his feet, he can be a mixed bag. Though he is able to score goals from basically anywhere inside 30 yards, illustrated by Genoa’s match against Parma, his shot selection can be vastly improved upon. As the metrics show, Scamacca has an xG90 of 0.37, which is above the league average of 0.34. The problem arises when looking at Scamacca’s Sh90 of 3.28, which is well above the league average of 2.46. A lot of times when watching Scamacca play, he will attempt to shoot from almost impossible angles, or just be poor in general with his shot selection. If Scamacca is able to become more clinical with his shots, he has the potential to be a 20+ goal a season striker.
His passing ability is another attribute where he can sometimes be a mixed bag. Though Scamacca has a KP90 of 1.38, well above the league average of 1.17, his pass accuracy in general is 66%, the second worst in Serie A in regards to outfield players. A lot of this can be owed however to Scamacca’s play style in general. Whenever Genoa are in possession of the ball and building the play up from the back, Scamacca does not play a large role. This is illustrated in his xGBuildup90 of only 0.10. This can also be witnessed when watching Scamacca play, with him tending to stay furthest forward on the shoulders of the last defenders. This is to allow him to get into the box quickly if one of the wide players plays a first-time cross in behind the defensive line.
When it comes to Scamacca’s dribbling ability, he does not attempt to dribble past defenders or get into 1v1 situations often. With only 12 successful dribbles this season, Scamacca is much more of a target man striker, which will be covered in more detail next. He is not necessarily quick with the ball at his feet, but will attempt to dribble past defenders if he feels that the opportunity is there.
Physical
The physical aspect of Scamacca’s game is where he excels the most. He has tremendous aerial presence, and is not afraid to go shoulder to shoulder with any defender in Serie A. Being 6’5” means that dominance in the air should come as second nature. For the most part, this is correct. When compared to his other Genoa teammates, Scamacca has won 1.8 aerial per 90 this season, putting him second in this category behind only Cristian Zapata. Also, with a success rate of 58% aerially, he is able to win the majority of first balls that come towards him when in the air. The vast majority of the time, Genoa’s goalkeeper, Mattia Perin, will play the ball long. Whenever Scamacca is on the pitch, this long ball is normally targeted for him, with him winning the first ball the majority of the time. However, even with this aerial presence, Scamacca has not scored a single headed goal in Serie A this season, something that he needs to work more on if he were to become a more complete striker.
Scamacca is also not afraid to go shoulder to shoulder with defenders, though his success rate in ground duels is not nearly as good as it is aerially, with Scamacca only winning 48% of his ground duels attempted. However, physically, Scamacca is one of the brightest young strikers, and if the rest of his game can become more rounded, then he has the potential to be one of the best young Italian strikers of this generation.
Summary
As just noted, Gianluca Scamacca is one of Italy’s best young striking prospects, and if he can improve his game in certain places, then the sky’s the limit for the young striker. Most of these small issues as well for Scamacca can be fixed with more game time, something that he has not been able to get much of consistently at club level. Finally, at Genoa, Scamacca has been able to find his feet and play more regularly, and when his loan spell ends and he goes back to Sassuolo, they will have a tough decision on their hands about what to do with their bright young striker.
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