The plight of West Ham United’s strikers has been the subject of considerable overage in recent days with the uncomfortable comparisons being made between the trio’s goal contributions and those of injured defender Dinos Mavropanos. At the start of the season most Irons fans would have pointed the finger at Pablo to be the lame duck of the trio – but in truth, none have been on fire.
Taty Castellanos‘ lack of impact is probably the more disappointing given his pedigree and the fact that West Ham could have flogged him for a huge price at the end of the summer window.
West Ham chose to hang on to the Argentine player, evidently believing – erroneously as it has turned out- that he’d go on to thrive in the Championship.
Fans have mostly been treated to frequent sightings of a moody expression and an unhappy No.11 stalking around the fringes of the action. And it isn’t acceptable, as Footballleagueworld.co.uk point out:
“It was claimed that Everton offered an initial £40m for the Argentinian, with a further £5m in bonuses, towards the end of the transfer deadline when the Toffees were desperately scrambling round for a new attacker.
….by now, the 28-year-old must have got his head around the fact he is staying at West Ham, and Nuno will be expecting Castellanos to step up and embrace the responsibility of being a key player for the team – much like Bowen does.
Far from happy: One goal in eleven means Taty is getting singled out for criticism.
It’s not like the ex-Wolves chief hasn’t tried things either in a bid to find Castellanos’ best form. He has had different partners in attack, and he has dropped out of the team, but, for whatever reason, nothing has clicked so far.”
Sadly that £40 million is looking at least double what the Irons could realistically expect to bring in for their unhappy Hammer in the January window, if indeed any buyer would come forward at all, in view of Castellanos’ woeful form this season.
Sourcing a ‘decent prospect’ who is able to hit the ground running and score 8 or 10 goals in the second half of the season (as Castellanos was supposed to do last year) will be hugely challenging in January since clubs are notoriously reluctant to part with good players mid season – especially goal scorers.
Few options mean high prices in January but at least the Irons do have a decent record for getting deals over the line in the winter.