Former West Ham manager Alan Pardew disagrees with Hammers fans about January signing Taty Castellanos.
Castellanos joined West Ham in a £26m deal from Lazio as a potential solution to the team’s goalscoring problems.
However, the striker has only scored five goals in 18 appearances, coming under scrutiny from Hammers supporters.
Pardew has defended Castellanos despite his underwhelming goal record, as he still has a big impact on the game.
DISCUSS: Is Taty Castellanos good enough to be West Ham’s starting striker? ⚽
Alan Pardew does not understand the criticism 🤷♂️
Alan Pardew praises Taty Castellanos despite West Ham fans’ criticism
While Castellanos has not exactly been prolific in front of goal, Pardew insists he has made a significant difference.
In fairness, the Argentinian forward offers a physical presence and attacking tenacity that were previously missing.
“In the last transfer window, the boys they brought in, Castellanos in particular, have added massively to that front line,” Pardew explained.
“I heard West Ham fans moaning a little bit about him, but trust me, he does a great job.
“Even against Crystal Palace, where he probably didn’t have his best game, he was still effective. He still looked like a threat, and he almost scored an overhead kick.”
Castellanos is certainly helping the team more than Niclas Fullkrug was, but that does not speak volumes.
Hammers fans are probably justified in demanding a bit more in terms of goalscoring prowess from the £26m January signing.
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However, as Pardew highlighted, Castellanos has an excellent supporting cast that is delivering under Nuno Espirito Santo.
“With [Jarrod] Bowen, [Crysencio] Summerville and [Tomas] Soucek behind him, that is a formidable team that have good confidence and good form,” he added.
“At the moment, you would have to say, with the momentum that we’re talking about, it’s going to be tough for Tottenham to catch them.”
Indeed, West Ham’s attackers probably only need to propel them to two more victories to avoid relegation this season.
This gives Castellanos an opportunity to become a cult hero at the London Stadium, if he can score a few more goals in the run-in.
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