Scamacca is a blow to West Ham as they reject £15m for the unwanted defender

Italian striker Gianluca Scamacca is undergoing a medical ahead of his switch from Sassuolo to West Ham.

Scamacca has agreed terms on a five-year deal with the Hammers, ending manager David Moyes’ long-running search for a recognized leader.

The 23-year-old will complete a two-part medical on Tuesday afternoon before sealing a move understood to be worth around £30million.

The move looks to be a real coup for Moyes with Scamacca, who scored 16 goals in 36 Serie A games last season, also linked with Paris St Germain and Juventus.

Moyes has had to rely on Michail Antonio to spearhead his attack since the Hammers sold Sebastien Haller to Ajax in January last year.

The Hammers’ top scorer in the Premier League last season was Jarrod Bowen with 12 goals, while Antonio also reached double figures.

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The West Ham manager will then turn his attention to trying to bring in Eintracht Frankfurt winger Filip Kostic, the 29-year-old Serbian international who shares an agent with Scamacca.

Kostic was part of the Frankfurt side that beat West Ham in the Europa League semi-finals last season.

Moyes is also understood to be back in the market for a centre-back after new signing Nayef Aguerd suffered ankle ligament damage in last week’s pre-season friendly against Rangers.

The 26-year-old Morocco international, who signed for French club Rennes last month, has undergone surgery and could be out until the start of the year.

One player who could leave West Ham is French centre-half Issa Diop. Fulham have reportedly tabled a bid worth around £15m, but the Hammers are holding out for more than £18m.

That’s according to a report from French publication Foot Mercato, who claim the Hammers are holding out for more than £18m.

The Hammers paid close to £25million for Diop in 2018 and he was excellent in his first season, leading to transfer links with Manchester United among others.

But Diop has fallen out of favor under Moyes and started just 10 Premier League games last season, despite featuring heavily in the Europa League group stage.

Against Luton in a pre-season friendly this weekend, Moyes deployed a front three of Ben Johnson, Kurt Zouma and Aaron Cresswell, with Vladimir Coufal and Arthur Masuaku at full-back.

This perfectly illustrates the dearth of centre-halves at the club, with Craig Dawson also missing the game with a knock that was not expected to keep him out for the start of the season.

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