There are a number of top tier Italian footballers playing outside of Serie A and we are here to talk about the winners and losers of Italians playing abroad this week. West Ham forward Gianluca Scamacca continues to hit the back of the net as he starts to leave his mark on the Premier League, whilst fellow Premier League star Jorginho scored in Chelsea’s victory over Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday. However, Paris Saint-Germain’s Italian stars have struggled as the French side have laboured to too many draws of late. Below we take a look at this week’s Italian winners and losers playing outside of Serie A.
Winners
Gianluca Scamacca (West Ham)
Gianluca Scamacca has now scored in back-to-back Premier League games for West Ham and the former Sassuolo forward has also scored in his last three consecutive matches in all competitions. The 23-year-old opened his Premier League account against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the beginning of the month with a brilliant strike on the half volley from the edge of the box. He followed that up with a goal against Anderlecht in the Europa Conference League, making an impact off the bench. Scamacca then scored his second Premier League goal of the campaign against Fulham last weekend, putting the Hammers in the lead on their way to a 3-1 victory over Fulham.
Scamacca was one of the hottest prospects coming out of Serie A after he scored 16 league goals for Sassuolo in the 2021/22 campaign and he now seems settled into life in England. Of course, it is still early days and he has still only bagged two Premier League goals but things are looking promising for both Scamacca and West Ham of late.
Jorginho (Chelsea)
The Azzurri midfielder played the full 90 minutes in both of Chelsea’s fixtures this week and the Blues have hit a fine run of form under new head coach Graham Potter. Saturday saw Chelsea earn all three points in Premier League action against Wolves as they ran out 3-0 winners at Stamford Bridge. Jorginho continues to star in his role in central midfield under Potter and he has made a good start with the former Brighton boss in charge, looking to help get Chelsea’s season back on track. He has been deployed in his usual holding role to keep things ticking in the middle of the park.
Jorginho kept his place in the starting eleven against Milan for their Champions League Group E fixture on Tuesday, this time being partnered by Mateo Kovacic in midfield. The 30-year-old opened the scoring for Chelsea at the San Siro, converting from the spot after Fikayo Tomori received a questionable straight red card after bringing down Mason Mount inside the box.
Having missed crucial penalties in Italy’s World Cup qualifying campaigns that ultimately cost them a spot at this year’s tournament in Qatar, Jorginho seems to have put his penalty demons behind him – much to the anger of the Milan fans who saw him score on Tuesday but not for the Azzurri. He is expected to continue to star in Potter’s Chelsea revival.
Losers
Gianluigi Donnarumma & Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain)
It has not been a great week for Paris Saint-Germain and Italian stars Gianluigi Donnarumma and Marco Verratti are the clear losers of the Italians outside of Serie A this week. Having drawn all three of their last three matches in all competitions, the pressure is on the Parisian side as their team full of global superstars suffers a downturn in form. Of course, three draws is not the end of the world but that’s the sort of pressure that comes when playing for a team like PSG; the expectation is that they win every match.
Beginning with PSG’s 0-0 draw away to Reims at the weekend, Sergio Ramos was dismissed in the first half, whilst the likes of Neymar and Lionel Messi were absent from the starting eleven. Christophe Galtier’s side clearly struggled to create chances and missed the creativity and flair of their South American stars.
Verratti also disappointed, picking up a yellow card in the first half, shortly after the dismissal of Ramos. Discipline has always been an issue for the 29-year-old midfielder, picking up 12 yellow cards in Ligue 1 last season. Verratti has already picked up four yellow cards in just nine Ligue 1 appearances this term and has also received a yellow in all four of his last appearances in all competitions, including their last match on Tuesday in a 1-1 draw at home to Benfica. The former Pescara man received his yellow card for a late challenge on Rafa Silva which led to the visitors being awarded a penalty and proceeding to equalise.
Donnarumma failed to keep a clean sheet against Benfica and, for his standards, he had a poor game. The former Milan man failed to make a single save and also looked shaky with the ball at his feet at times, perhaps lacking concentration. A game to forget for the Italian stars.
Federico Bernardeschi (Toronto FC)
Toronto FC suffered a 4-0 defeat away to Philadelphia Union over the weekend and Federico Bernardeschi failed to make an impact, also picking up a yellow card late on. The Italian injection has failed to get things going for the Canadian side and they continue to struggle in the MLS this term.
The hope was that the Italian cohort of Bernardeschi, Lorenzo Insigne and Domenico Criscito could make a similar impact to that of the arrival of Sebastian Giovinco but that has not been the case. Both Insigne and Criscito failed to appear against Philadelphia as they sit second from bottom in the Eastern Conference.