By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
The Athletic didn’t pull any punches when discussing West Ham striker Pablo this week.
During their West Ham squad audit, they assessed every member of Nuno Espírito Santo’s squad, but Pablo’s review came with a clear warning:
“Pablo failed to score in 17 appearances following his €20million (£17.4m, $23.4m) January switch from Portuguese side Gil Vicente. He signed a four-and-a-half-year deal, with the option of a further year. The striker needs to hit the mark in the second tier, and frequently.”
He Divides Opinion
The 22-year-old divides opinion like no other player at West Ham. His lack of goals speaks for itself, but there is little doubt his energy and willingness to run helped Nuno’s tactics during the second half of last season.
With Taty Castellanos and Pablo leading the line together, the Hammers were able to press aggressively from the front. But that, in itself, shouldn’t be enough. The modern game is littered with forwards who can close defenders down and score goals, so Pablo simply has to add more end product to his game next season.
A Defensive Striker?
Not everybody agrees, of course. In the comments section on this very website, somebody wrote last week:
“Pablo will be the top scorer in the Championship next season. Mark my words.”
Well, I certainly hope so because having the Golden Boot winner would probably give us a great chance of promotion. I’m just not convinced yet.
From what I’ve seen so far, Pablo’s best attributes are his attitude and his tackling. He’s a holding forward, if such a thing exists… or perhaps a defensive striker.
Time To Find His Finishing Boots
Slower than possibly even Pablo Zabaleta was during his time at West Ham, Pablo at least arrived with a decent goalscoring record in Portugal. Surely that finisher’s instinct is lying dormant somewhere, but I wouldn’t count on it until we actually see it.
If the newly assembled recruitment team get the chance to sign a striker with genuine pace and an eye for goal, I suspect a deadly partnership with Taty Castellanos is waiting to be formed.
Pablo still has plenty of time on his side at just 22 years of age, and there is clearly a player in there somewhere. But Championship defences won’t simply roll over because he works hard. At some point, all that pressing has to be backed up by goals.
Ian Dowie was also a tryer with no pace… but absolutley useless in front of goal. That was one of the worse seasons ever as a hammers fan.. we had no chance of scoring. Just hope we dont have to go through it all again with pablo.
Nuno played him differently to his previous club …His ExG at Hammers was less than 1 and he scored less than 1 .. If Nuno was telling him to get in the box and he wasn’t, that’s a different story .. If his ExG was 5 and he scored nil, that’s a different story, but he didn’t miss lots of good chances …Reading their profiles when they signed it looked like Taty was a 20 and Pablo a 9, but Nuno played them the other way around .. We almost needed Taty to get injured before we could’ve seen what Pablo had to offer in front of goal ..
As a club, we must have bought more waste of spaces than the rest of the league put together – yes, all four divisions ! Pablo, for all his effort unfortunately fits the bill. Has the touch of an Elephant with Gout. Whoever decided to buy him ( Nuno) should be given their P45 immediately. Strange Nuno saying he doesn’t want him, because must of been him that told the club to buy him as he’s the Son of one of his ex team mates !
£17 million quid, and we complain we’re skint. One in a long line of pathetic over the top
buys this club has made since the days of Pellegrini.
Couldn’t make it up ! If Kretinsky gets the stadium changes done, maybe we could rename it “The Big Top” ? What a bunch of clowns……
An attacking presence who puts in a shift but is no attacking threat at all. Honest as a days long but is that enough, almost certainly not.
I have scarcely seen a worse West Ham striker; maybe Benni McCarthy fits the bill. But, Pablo has been a complete waste of money. He doesn’t even approach Fullkrug’s scoring “prowess” & stumbles around a football pitch like he has just come out of the pub’.
As for being the top scorer in the Championship; how deluded can you get ?!
I was under the impression that Nuno had said he did not want the player for next season and he can be sold? i guess as ever that was put out there because stories are rather thin on the ground…..Personally i would keep him having had him for such a short amount of time it would be stupid to sell him on at yet another loss for a player once again we played well over the odds for.
If Nuno had played Bowen central like Moyes did with Taty instead of Pablo with Troare on the right ‘MOM in his only start against Leeds and experienced at Barca & in the prem’ we would have stayed up!!
If Nuno had played Bowen central like Moyes did with Taty instead of Pablo with Troare on the right ‘MOM in his only start against Leeds and experienced at Barca & in the prem’ we would have stayed up!!