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Roberto Mancini pleads patience with Gianluca Scamacca

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Italy head coach Roberto Mancini believes that it will take West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a few months to settle into life in the Premier League.

What’s the word?

That is according to a report from Football Italia, as relayed by football.london, who have shared the former Manchester City manager’s plea for patience amid the striker’s tough start to life in east London.

Speaking about the Hammers forward, Mancini – who led City to their dramatic Premier League title triumph in 2012 – said: “Scamacca joined a difficult league and it will take some time to understand English football, he will take four or five months to settle in, but time is by his side.”

Scamacca’s struggles at West Ham

Having played just 168 minutes of Premier League football, Scamacca has hardly been afforded ample opportunity so far at the London Stadium. Conversely, he has started four games in the Europa Conference League and found the net on three occasions.

The main theme throughout the 23-year-old’s embryonic West Ham career is that he has not been afforded a consecutive run of starts, with manager David Moyes counting on Michail Antonio to lead the line up top.

Scamacca, who has been described as looking “anxious” by BT Sport pundit Joe Cole (via West Ham Zone), has appeared in five of the Hammers’ seven Premier League games this season, starting just one of those matches.

It has been an unfortunate trend for the £91k-per-week Italian over the last few years. Even in the 2021/22 Serie A season which saw him score 16 goals in 36 appearances, he found himself starting from the substitutes’ bench on 11 occasions.

Although there is time on his side to come good at West Ham, he will want to continue his positive performances in Europe and quickly transition that to domestic football, where he will be on the hunt for regular starting minutes.

Mancini is correct, though – the adaptation period in the Premier League is different for all players, so it’s only right that Scamacca is given the breathing space to come good in his first season in England.

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