Although West Ham United haven’t done lots of transfer business this summer, there have been a couple of significant moves in and out of the club. In terms of the major outgoing, Mohammed Kudus departed the club, joining London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. The Hammers sold him for £55m, and made a healthy profit.
As for the incoming, that has come in the form of highly rated Senegalese left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf. The 20-year-old joined the club from Czech outfit Slavia Prague, in a deal worth a reported £19m. It is an important addition for the Hammers, with stalwart Aaron Cresswell recently departing the club.
The Hammers will not stop at the signing of Diouf, it seems. They are strongly linked with someone at the other end of the pitch.
West Ham’s next transfer move
Graham Potter’s side have certainly had a busy start to the 2025 summer transfer window, and the money is now there to spend from the Kudus sale. After successfully bringing Diouf to the club, the next target is now firmly in their sights.
According to a recent report from The Standard, West Ham ‘are interested in signing’ Sassuolo centre-forward Andrea Pinamonti. They are one of the sides said to have ‘enquired’ about his availability, although ‘talks are at an early stage’ at this point.
However, the Hammers may not be the only London club making a move for the 26-year-old. Brentford, who have gone through a transitional summer after losing Thomas Frank, are also considering a deal for the striker.
No fee has yet been reported, but Football Transfers value him at around £13m, which could be a bargain.
Why Pinamonti would be a good signing
Once a highly rated youngster and something of a journeyman in Italian football, Pinamonti has played for Serie A giants Inter. After spending the last couple of seasons at Sassuolo, he spent the 2024/25 campaign on loan at Genoa, where he impressed.
The 26-year-old, who was once a Scudetto winner with Inter, made 37 appearances during his most recent season as a Genoa player. In that time, he bagged 11 goals and grabbed one assist, with all but one of those contributions coming in the Italian top flight.
Going back to the previously used word journeyman, Pinamonti certainly comes under that category. He has played for five different Italian top-flight clubs, and has exactly 50 goals to his name in 212 appearances. That included this stunning effort for Genoa this season.
Perhaps this deal has shades of the one West Ham made a couple of years ago to sign Gianluca Scamacca, given he is an Italian striker joining from a Serie A side.
The 26-year-old was only a Hammers player for one season, scoring eight times in 27 games.
Things didn’t really work out for the Italian international at the London Stadium, although it seemed like a case of right player, wrong time.
West Ham striker Michail Antonio confirmed this theory on the Filthy Fellas podcast, explaining that he is a “quality player” but he could “not play the way the manager wants to play”, referring to David Moyes.
It has not been an easy time for the striker after leaving East London, either. He flourished in his first season with Atalanta, scoring 19 goals and grabbing eight assists in 44 games. However, he missed the entirety of 2024/25 with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Perhaps Pinamonti could be the second coming of Scamacca. The stats from this season compared to the former Hammers star in his final campaign before joining the club are fairly similar.
According to Squawka, the 2024/25 Genoa loanee scored 0.4 goals and won 2.8 aerial duels per 90 minutes. In comparison, Scamacca bagged 0.7 goals and won 2.2 aerial duels each game in the season before he moved to London.
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Pinamonti and Scamacca key stats compared |
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|---|---|---|
|
Stat (per 90) |
Pinamonti (2024/25) |
Scamacca (2021/22) |
|
Goals |
0.4 |
0.7 |
|
Conversion rate |
16.95% |
24.62% |
|
Lay-offs completed |
2 |
1.5 |
|
Aerial duels won |
2.8 |
2.2 |
|
Fouls won |
1.4 |
0.9 |
|
Stats from Squawka |
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The 26-year-old Sassuolo star is a “complete forward”, according to football talent scout Jacek Kulig. He has been around the block and knows where the back of the net is. If he brings as much talent as Scamacca did and gels with the squad, this could be a genius move.
As Antonio said, Scamacca was not a bad player, far from it. Should the move for Pinamonti go through, he could be the second coming of the former Hammers striker, but he will hope to surpass his goal tally.
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