Mercato Mercato – Character, atypical career and cumbersome father: Who is Gianluca Scamacca, the striker targeted by PSG?

“I want to go“. From the height of his 16 years, Gianluca Scamacca has no doubts. Tired of crossing the capital every day to go to train at Trigoria, the training center of AS Roma, the one who spent his entire his youth in Fidènes (at the other end of the city in the Northern Periphery) decides to pack his bags.Despite the attempts to hold him back from Roberto Muzzi, his trainer, or those of Roberto Bifulco (director) and Bruno Conti, in responsible for the technical coordination of the club’s youth teams and one of the first to spot him, his choice was made: he agreed to go to Eindhoven to join PSV, accompanied by his mother and sister, whose striker is very close.

“I want to progress and my choice goes in this directionhe justifies himself at the time. The PSV gives us a house and a car, in addition to having found a job for my mother. Here, she had problems accompanying me every day to training with her job. Me, I’m tired of trips that always look like trips. It’s a way to focus on football 24 hours a day4. “Described as a boy”en or” et “with a strong character“, Scamacca, a child of Rome who also played for Lazio between 2012 and 2015, takes the plunge. Without regret and without fear, convinced that this is the best decision for his career and his family. .

With Roma, the story ends hard

“Faced with certain offers and certain possibilities, it is always complicated for a training center to keep a playerconfides to us Augusto Ciardi, Roman journalist at Teleradiostereo. PSV promised him many things and offered many guarantees for the rest of his career. He also had other tempting offers. But at the time, already, we were already saying the greatest good about it here.”

It must be said that despite his young age, the 1m95 striker had already displayed all his talent in two and a half years with Roma. For example, in 2014, he was one of the great protagonists of the victory of the U15 championship (Giovanissimi Nazionali) with 34 goals in 30 matches, including a precious one in the final against Juventus. Federico Coppitelli, his trainer at the time, even decided to take him with him to the next category. Playing with the greatest, Scamacca also does it when he is called up with the Italian U19 selection.

Roma, a real talent factory (Pellegrini, Frattesi, Florenzi etc …) thanks in particular to the vision of its ex-technician Alberto De Rossi, collects just under 300,000 euros from PSV. The story ends badly between the Giallorossi and his attacker. December 2014: the latter misses several training sessions and the derby against Lazio. In January, he did not show up for the resumption, having decided to leave where he was offered a minimum salary of 70,000 euros. “They understood that it was over despite a final raise (…) For Roma, there was a threshold not to be exceeded. If she gave in, the other young people at the club would have followed suit to ask for the same sums. It was like opening Pandora’s box“, explains one of the experts on the file.

In the Netherlands, the experience is not really going as expected. Despite making a professional debut with Jong PSV in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie (second division) and two small appearances in the Youth League, Scamacca did not impose themselves. He struggles to acclimatize to this new reality and quickly feels homesick. After two years, he is back in Italy, where Sassuolo decides to repatriate him.

“When I arrived at PSV, my teammates looked at me strangelyhe confided last year to SportWeek on his Dutch experience. They were “clean” whereas I already had three tattoos when I was 16. To have ice cream with them, I had to ask ten days in advance. On the field, when I touched the ball with my heel, I was told: “Do you want to do like Ibrahimovic?”. But I always had that. The heel, the sole: you learn that on the street. But I don’t regret, I wanted to broaden my horizons, learn a new language and have a new experience..”

Barely landed in Sassuolo than the 18-year-old striker joined the Neroverde club’s Primavera, with whom he won the prestigious Viareggio tournament in March 2017, which brings together the best young teams from Italy and other countries each year. . Two years earlier, with PSV, the Roman had also distinguished himself against AC Milan of a certain … Gianluigi Donnarumma. But this time he is the great protagonist, scoring three goals in the knockout phase, in addition to transforming the fifth penalty in the semi-final against Torino and then in the final against Empoli. Sassuolo triumphs, Scamacca explodes.

A series of loans and a record

Aware of his talent, his managers decided to promote him to the first team the following season. But in January, after having played only twenty minutes in Serie A with a few round trips in Primavera, his club agreed to send him on loan to Cremonese, in Serie B, where he scored his first goal with the pros. Others will follow at Pec Zwolle (Netherlands) and Ascoli (Serie B), where he accumulates precious minutes before really discovering the elite with Genoa during the 2020-2021 season. Years of nomad that will serve him.

Now international U21, Scamacca is starting to make people talk about him. 29 matches, 12 goals in Serie A: his apprenticeship at a very high level is going pretty well. He even set a historic record in the Italian Cup, becoming the first player to finish top scorer in the competition for two years in a row (2019-2020 with Ascoli, 2020-2021 at Genoa) and with two different teams. Only Gianfranco Petris had managed to achieve this feat (1959-60 and 1960-1961) but only in the jersey of Fiorentina. Sassuolo then decides to recover it, and this time definitively. Before, however, Scamacca must deal with a funny news item.

Barre de fer et menaces

Trigoria, May 18. A man burst into Roma’s Fulvio Bernardini training center around 7:30 p.m. with an iron bar, not hesitating to attack several cars including those of certain leaders. This is Emiliano Scamacca, Gianluca’s father, Sassuolo jacket on his back. The young people of the training center, who train a few meters away, are quickly sheltered.

Police move quickly to neutralize a man described as “out of it“, heading towards the offices while “repeatedly insulting“several individuals. One of them would be Bruno Conti, from whom he was visibly demanding money. Faced with this surreal situation, the striker decided to react in the columns of The Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I was very shocked by what happened. I really don’t know how to explain ithe explains. We have had a distant relationship for some time. My father has never had anything to do with managing my career, let alone in recent years. (…) He has not lived with my mother for a long time. I grew up with my mother and my sister, my only family.”

And now, Paris?

Considered the future great striker of the Italian selection, Scamacca could take advantage of the reconstruction started by Roberto Mancini to definitively take his place at the forefront of the attack. “He is ready“, assured the Italian coach, who did not hesitate to start him against Germany and England in the Nations League. By default? Probably, especially if we take into account the shortage of scorers that the Boot for years despite Ciro Immobile’s performance with Lazio Roma. But it’s also undeniable that the Sassuolo striker, who has scored 16 goals in 38 appearances this season, could have the shoulders.”He knows how to do everything well but he can still progressassured last May his trainer Alessio Dionisi. His potential is incredible and he is an exceptional boy in every way. vue.”

So the big question now is: is he ready for an experience like PSG? At 23, Scamacca would discover the Champions League there, but also the pressure of a very big club, in addition to its demands, its objectives and its daily pressure. Not really easy to manage for a player who has never known a star locker room. But his strength of character has always taken precedence over the rest. His talent too. Luis Campos, who is negotiating in person to bring him in, believes in it. Maybe not like today’s incumbent, but definitely like tomorrow’s.