Former Premier League striker Kevin Campbell has urged David Moyes to find a way to incorporate both Michail Antonio and Gianluca Scamacca into his starting XI at West Ham.
The Hammers finally found a replacement for Sebastian Haller – and in turn a second senior striker – 18 months after the Ivorian left the club, when they signed Scamacca for £35.5m in the summer. However, the Italian has been restricted to just one start in the Premier League and four substitute appearances either side of an illness.
Perhaps that setback has affected Moyes’ thinking, but considering that the 23-year-old has three goals in four starts in Europe, he does have a strong case for being included from the outset domestically as well.
As relayed by football.london, the 59-year-old admitted that he would need to switch to a back three if he were to play both Antonio and the seven-cap Italian from the start. However, Campbell is adamant that the Irons manager must find a way to start both centre-forwards, having hitherto gone with just one target man so far this season.
Campbell calls for two up top
The Sky Sports co-commentator told Football Insider: “You want both of them on the pitch. Listen, Scamacca is a big lad, he’s someone you have to account for. Michail Antonio is someone you definitely have to account for.
“There’s no point preserving him, he’s going on international duty. You need to get West Ham back into the game so you keep your weapons on the pitch. That’s what David Moyes gets paid the big money for, he’s got to make these decisions.
“I’m not surprised there was some frustration from the West Ham faithful when Antonio comes off and Scamacca comes on because you want to see them both on the pitch.
“Them two, jeez. They would be a right handful.”
Scamacca will be hard to ignore
After a breakout 2021/22 campaign in Serie A for Scamacca in which he netted 16 goals in 36 appearances, averaging one every 135 minutes, he earned his full international debut with the European champions last September, and someone of that calibre surely can’t be left out of the West Ham starting XI on a regular basis.
At 6 foot 5, he has been compared to Zlatan Ibrahimovic due to his goalscoring prowess and size, and he would certainly be a “handful” for opposition defenders, with Campbell previously lauding the 23-year-old’s ‘brilliant’ link-up play.
Considering Antonio’s previous as a winger, that could be one possible option for Moyes to integrate both him and Scamacca without a change of formation, but it remains to be seen whether the West Ham boss would be bold enough to try either of those options.
