Southampton and AC Milan seem set to go head-to-head in the chase to sign Italian striker Gianluca Scamacca.
TuttoMercatoWeb in Italy claims that in recent weeks, Southampton have been scouting the Sassuolo loanee. He is currently on loan at Serie B outfit Ascoli and the report states that the Rossoneri have been viewing him as a long-term target in the market.
Should Southampton sign Scamacca?
He will be a good signing
He isn't worth it
Impressing at Ascoli
Scamacca is still just 21 and is a striker by trade and currently plays for the Italy Under-21s side. For the Azzurri Under-21s side, he has made eight appearances and already has four goals to his name. He also has one assist to his name.
For Ascoli, Scamacca has played 23 Serie B games this season. He has scored seven goals in the league, also picking up one assist. In all competitions, he has a tally of 11 goals and a single assist.
For the Sassuolo senior side, Scamacca has previously made three appearances in the 2017/18 season.
Last season, the 21-year-old spent the first half of the campaign at Dutch club PEC Zwolle. He made eight Eredivisie appearances for them, failing to score a goal.
TIF Tactics
As per Soccerment (subscription needed), Scamacca wins 4.76 aerial duels per 90 minutes for Ascoli. But his passing accuracy stands at 65.2%, which suggests that he isn’t the best on the ball. His aerial duel accuracy of 42.4% is below the striker average of 43.7% and shows that he perhaps needs to improve in that regard, too.
Therefore, Scamacca might be a huge gamble for Southampton. It would be a first season in the Premier League for him and the Saints already have Danny Ings, Che Adams, Michael Obafemi and Shane Long as striking options. He will be very low down the pecking order as a result, and spending money on him might not be the best option.