By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Reports from The i Paper suggest Taty Castellanos is now more likely to remain at West Ham this summer despite reported interest from Everton… and rightly so!
There was always an understanding among Hammers fans that players such as Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville were likely to leave. The club’s financial position after relegation meant difficult decisions had to be made. We get it.
However, West Ham have now banked £85 million for Fernandes, while Summerville is set to complete his move to Al Hilal for an initial £55 million, with a further £10 million in potential add-ons.
That changes the picture massively.
Promotion Has To Be The Priority
Having generated that sort of money, the need to sell players the club actually want to keep has surely diminished.
If West Ham are serious about bouncing straight back to the Premier League, then retaining players such as Castellanos has to become the priority.
Jarrod Bowen committing his future to the club was a huge statement, while Claret & Hugh has already reported on the club’s determination to keep Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Personally, I’d add Castellanos to that list every single time.
Nuno Has Already Made His Position Clear
I thought we saw exactly why during West Ham’s 5-0 win over Stevenage.
Yes, Castellanos got himself on the scoresheet, but it was everything else that impressed me just as much. His willingness to drop deep, link the play and bring others into the game showed exactly the sort of all-round performance that could make him one of the Championship’s standout forwards.
Granted, it was League One opposition, so we shouldn’t get carried away. But the attributes he displayed are precisely the sort that should translate into the Championship.
Nuno Espírito Santo has already made his thinking perfectly clear.
“We have valued players, quality players that for sure attract attention from other clubs all over the world, but the commitment that we have here has to be stronger than any proposal. It’s a challenge for us. Retaining players is vital for the club.”
For me, those words sum up exactly where West Ham should be this summer.
The club have already made the difficult sales we needed to make.
Now it’s about keeping hold of the players who can fire West Ham straight back to the Premier League and ignore interest from Moyes boys.
Bet taty would love to run around for eighty minutes and see nothing of the ball just show him possession stats under Moyes that should be enough to kill that conversation
Even after the departure of Fernandes and Summerville we still have a decent squad with some quality youngsters who are capable of finishing in the top half of the championship.
The hard bit now is to recruit the two forwards who can take us from mid table to the top two. That is a very difficult task. Let’s hope the recruitment team can pull it off as expectations are now quite high amongst the fans when you read the forums.
Ted your right on the money with your thinking 🤔. Can the Hammers secure the 2 or 3 players that will add the finishing touch to our team and get the Hammers into the top flight next year. I hope so, like millions of Iron supporters. What is interesting still is who out of all the talented young Hammers will overdeliver this season and make their name and secure their future as part of the next generation of our players. By the performances our young players deliver week in and out there could be a number of stars produced.
What’s happening with EHM Diouf? There seems to be no news either way