Scamacca’s €50m PSG transfer ends Ronaldo rumours

Daniel Edwards

5 Jul 2022 15:45 BST
3 min read

Gianluca Scamacca, Sassuolo, 2021/22 — © ProShots

While there is still great uncertainty over where Cristiano Ronaldo will be playing his club football for the 2021-22 season, one place that will not be hosting the Portugal legend is Parc des Princes.

Article continues under the video

Ronaldo caused a stir this week when reports emerged linking him with the exit at Manchester United.

The star's need to play top-level football every year in the twilight of his career has been mentioned as the principle motivation, with United facing at least the coming season outside of the Champions League.

Paris Saint-Germain would certainly fit the bill, having made the knockout phase in each of the last 10 editions and the quarter-final or further in six of those.

A transfer to Ligue 1 would also raise the tantalising prospect of seeing Ronaldo alongside his eternal Ballon d'Or rival Lionel Messi, as well as Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.

The quartet would form a truly fantastic forward unit, but PSG are set to look in another direction.

According to Le Parisien the French side are making Sassuolo youngster Gianluca Scamacca the first new face of the summer with which to greet incoming coach Christophe Galtier.

Gianluca Scamacca, Sassuolo — © ProShots

PSG will part with €50 million for the forward, who is expected to sign as soon as next week.

He may not be as marketable a name as Ronaldo, but at 23 Scamacca has a bright future ahead of him and will add much-needed depth behind PSG's established attacking trio.

Italy's hope for the future

A former member of Roma and Lazio's youth academies, Scamacca has had to bide his time as a professional.

The forward first joined Sassuolo in 2017 from PSV but did not make an immediate impact, appearing in just three games in his debut season before spending the next four years on a series of loan switches across Italy and the Netherlands.

He finally received his chance last season and grabbed it with both hands to announce himself as a real attacking prospect.

Scamacca smashed 16 goals in 36 Serie A outings to finish sixth in the Capocannoniere rankings, a tally that helped Sassuolo cruise to a comfortable mid-table finish.

His goalscoring ability in turn caught the eye of Italy boss Roberto Mancini, who handed him his international debut back in September and now looks set to use the youngster regularly as the Azzurri rebuild following their failure to reach the World Cup.