Identifying target-men PSG could sign to free Kylian Mbappé

A Hammer joining PSG? Gianluca Scamacca (23)

It was all agreed … until it wasn’t. PSG got former Sassuolo striker Gianluca Scamacca inked to a deal to move to the French capital, or so the Parisian think.

Le Parisien reported back on July 4 this summer that a fee quoted at €50 million had “almost” been agreed between both clubs with the player having already agreed terms with the Rouge et Bleu.

Luis Campos, the newly appointed PSG football advisor, had his second signing of the summer transfer window in the bag after securing Vitinha … but he found out that Premier League side and London-based club West Ham had trumped the efforts made by PSG to acquire the Italian forward. Turns out that the Parisian gents weren’t as interested in the player as the Hammers.

PSG only offered €35m for the striker, reported Sky Sports, compared to West Ham’s initial €36m offer with the chance for that figure to get all the way up to €42m counting bonuses and a 10% sell-on fee baked into it.

Is now the time for PSG to amp up their efforts and try to acquire Scamacca once and for all? One thing is for sure: the youngster very well merits a move to an elite-level club.

Since joining West Ham, Scamacca has appeared in six premier league games along with three apps in the UEFA Conference League. The tally isn’t that great, but it’s been only 365 total playing ties over those three matches in which Scamacca has scored three goals total. That is a goal every 121 minutes of playing time, or every game-and-change.

Scamacca has only started two games in the Premier League, though, getting his first call to the starting XI last weekend in MD9 against Wolves at home … where he scored his first goal of the domestic season before getting subbed off 65 minutes into the match.

While Scamacca doesn’t need to prove much more than he’s already done, the truth is that getting some best-league reps in England won’t hurt his value – assuming he delivers. He definitely did so last year in Italy when he put 16 balls inside the net over 36 matches (25 starts, 2,146 min.) for an average of 0.67 goals per game.

Put everything together, add to it the fact that the Italian’s birthday is separated just 11 days from  Mbappe’s, and you might be looking at the perfect offensive pairing for years to come.

It’s up to PSG to decide if they want to raise that €35m bar.