As is expected, opinions surrounding West Ham United’s first signing of the Nuno Espirito Santo era – Pablo Felipe arrived from Gil Vicente on Friday night – are pretty mixed.
Will Pablo be the Carlos Tevez-style spark which ignites their survival challenge?
A few days after former Upton Park stalwart James Collins reflected fondly on the ‘Great Escape’ of 2007, could a sequel be arriving nearly two decades later?
Or, on the other hand, have West Ham United just bet the farm on a 21-year-old striker with only half a season’s worth of reliable goalscoring under his belt?
How do you PREDICT Pablo and Castellanos will get on at West Ham?
And who is coming next, do you think?
Nuno played a major role in Pablo Felipe’s arrival, helping to pick out the Braga-born hotshot alongside Iberian super-agent Jorge Mendes. While the manager’s team selections and game management have come under serious scrutiny, the fans will just be hoping his judgement in the transfer market proves to be somewhat more reliable.
West Ham United fans give their view on Pablo Felipe’s arrival from Gil Vicente
Speaking of the fans, Hammers News readers have had their say on Pablo’s £17.4 million transfer via our new TalkingPoints initiative.
The reaction, it is fair to say, spans from cautious optimism to understandable pessimism.
For some, a young, up-and-coming goalscorer is a welcome sight after West Ham wasted £27 million on a 30-something Niclas Fullkrug.
Gil Vicente head coach Carlos Peixoto is convinced Pablo will thrive in England. Former teammate Felix Correia thinks West Ham have landed an ‘exceptional’ talent.
Pablo’s conversion rate is higher than even Erling Haaland and Harry Kane, by the way.
Then again, the Primeira Liga is a competition in which both Darwin Nunez and Viktor Gyokeres looked like bonafide world beaters.
“That’s what we need, a striker who is young and can give us his all,” one fan wrote in our Hammers News comments section. “Seems we only went for strikers who were past it in recent seasons. Give this bloke a decent contract.”
He has a point.
Of the ten strikers signed by West Ham prior to Pablo, five were over the age of 29 – Fullkrug, Callum Wilson, Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, Lucas Perez and Danny Ings.
“We’ve had players before who perform well in their own leagues,” another Hammers News reader argues. “The question is whether he can adapt to the Premier League.”
“[Whether Pablo succeeds] depends if he can adapt quickly to the Prem.”
“He looks impressive, but [going from Portugal to England] is a huge step up.”
“I thought the idea was to bring someone in who is Premier League-ready? He might do OK and might be a gamble, but we need someone to hit the ground running.”
Todibo and Walker-Peters are BOTH injury doubts! ❌
How would you set up West Ham's defence today? And would you start Pablo?
Could Pablo and Taty Castellanos be the Hammers’ new Paul Kitson and John Hartson?
According to Italian reporter Gianluca Di Marzio, Valentin ‘Taty’ Castellanos will be joining Pablo at West Ham imminently. The Argentine said goodbye to his Lazio teammates on Friday ahead of a £27 million move to the London Stadium.
As one eagle eyed supporter points out, things didn’t turn out too badly the last time West Ham splashed out on pair of mid-season centre-forward signings in an attempt to claw their way to safety.
“Let’s hope that the worm has turned and Pablo and Castellanos are like [Paul] Kitson and [John] Hartson and have the same impact.”
West Ham paid a combined £7.3 million for Kitson and Hartson back in February 1997. Between them, the former Arsenal and Newcastle forwards scored 13 goals in the final 12 games of that Premier League campaign.
If Castellanos and Pablo can do the same – the former could make his debut away to Wolves in today’s 3pm kick-off – you could consider this £44 million extremely well spent.
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