West Ham United wasted no time reinforcing Nuno Espirito Santo’s goal-shy frontline with two January additions, Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe arriving before the first week of 2026 was done.
Already, the Hammers have seen some return on their investment.
Taty Castellanos was the FA Cup matchwinner against Queens Park Rangers on Sunday. An extra-time decider against a London rival to save West Ham United from an embarrassing third round exit? One former England international was right when he predicted the Hammers fans ‘will love’ crafty Castellanos.
No Upson, Ashton or Lucas Neil? 💰
Who are your Top 5 January signings at West Ham?
Nuno has been impressed by Pablo Felipe’s ‘fighting’ spirit, too, even if it will take him a little longer to open his account.
And say what you want about West Ham’s recruitment department, while the jury remains out on Castellanos and Pablo, the Premier League strugglers deserve praise for adjusting their sights and reacting quickly once it became apparent that some of the other strikers on their January wishlist would not be arriving.
Take Cruzeiro hitman Kaio Jorge, for instance.
Kaio Jorge signs new Cruzeiro contract and shows West Ham United never had a chance
According to Brazilian publication GE Global, West Ham had a £22 million bid rejected by Cruzeiro for Kaio Jorge before the January window even began.
Had the one-time Juventus forward pushed to make the move happen – as Castellanos did, for instance – they might not have taken ‘no’ for an answer. But, having been burned by his experience in Turin, Kaio Jorge was in no rush to leave Brazil for another stab at the European game.
So had West Ham decided to keep up their pursuit, rather than landing both Castellanos and Pablo with three weeks to spare, they would have instead been dragging their feet until mid-January, only to see Kaio Jorge put pen to paper on a new contract at Cruzeiro.
“I’m very happy with today,” the Brazilian Serie A Golden Boot winner said after extending his deal until the summer of 2030. “A very significant day in my career as a professional player.
“Renewing my contract at Mineirao is very gratifying.”
This will come as little surprise to those who had followed developments surrounding Kaio Jorge closely. On more than one occasion, he made it clear that his priority was to stay and defend his top scorer crown.
West Ham were barking up the wrong tree from day one. Fortunately, this hungry hound knew when to move on to other, more attainable targets.
Speaking on Samuca TV, though, Kaio Jorge’s agent did admit that this new contract comes with a clause. Cruzeiro will be forced to let him go for a fee in the region of £25 million, should the one-cap Brazil international receive an offer which does a better job of testing his loyalty.
“His clause is the maximum allowed by the ‘Pele Law’. It’s normal. It remains like this until 2030,” Marquito Maciel explains.
“If something comes along that Kaio wants, something good or a top European club, Cruzeiro will open negotiations starting at 30 million euros.”
How many more signings do we need to make for you to feel confident about staying up?! 🤔
Still an awful lot of work to do…
Taty Castellanos did what Jorge did not and demanded West Ham move
West Ham would not encounter anywhere near as much resistance when offering Lazio £26 million for a striker who had scored only two Serie A goals in the first half of the campaign.
Former Napoli, Juventus and Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri wanted to keep Castellanos in Rome. But after being presented with such an offer, a Lazio side who had run into recent financial concerns were in no place to turn their noses upwards.
“The boy was open to this type of solution,” Sarri told DAZN a couple of days before Castellanos marked his second Hammers appearance with a decisive late goal. “When things go like this, it becomes difficult to keep a player.”
“If requests arrive, [our approach will revolve around] listening to the player, as we did with Castellanos,” added Angelo Fabiani, Lazio’s sporting director.
“Our project didn’t begin today, but after some key departures like Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Luis Alberto, and Felipe Anderson. It was a tough journey here. If offers arrive, it means we’re reaping the benefits.
“It’s normal that Taty will be replaced, just as some other players will be sold to continue our growth.”
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