Fan favourite striker Valentin ‘Taty’ Castellanos appears to have performed a major U-turn on his West Ham future if his social media activity is anything to go by.
There have been very few highlights for West Ham United over the last two-and-a-half seasons.
The club’s dismal decline started in January 2024 and has ultimately resulted in the Hammers sleepwalking their way to relegation last Sunday off the back of one bad decision after another.
Failed recruitment and managerial appointments are at the heart of West Ham’s issues with the board to blame for all of it as the decision-makers in chief.
Now Taty appears to want to stay at West Ham
But one bit of transfer business the Hammers did seem to get right was the signing of Valentin ‘Taty’ Castellanos in January.
Taty could and should have scored more goals for the Hammers than he did after arriving for a sizeable £27m fee from Lazio.
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But the Argentine forward was almost single-handedly to thank for West Ham’s upturn in performances and results on the pitch with his work-rate, running, pressing and all-round positive attitude.
Taty left Nuno Espirito Santo red-faced when he was dropped for the crucial game at Newcastle only to come on after just 25 minutes and do everything in his power to drag the Hammers back into the game.
The 27-year-old scored West Ham’s goal of the season that day and is in the running for the Premier League honour too.
Many feel keeping Taty in the Championship would almost guarantee West Ham promotion back to the big time.
The striker would be a sure bet to bag at least 20-25 goals in the second tier.
However, the Hammers were dealt a major Castellanos blow before their relegation fate was sealed last weekend.
Fan favourite Taty likes the fact Nuno is staying at West Ham
Because a journalist claimed the forward has no intention of playing for West Ham in the Championship and wants out.
That came amid links to both Flamengo, who missed out on Taty to the Hammers in January, and Fulham.
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Now, though, Taty appears to have performed a major U-turn over his West Ham future.
That’s if his rather telling social media activity is anything to go by.
If a player wanted out of West Ham after relegation then they would simply put their agent to work and stay quiet.
After all with so many issues and upheaval ensuing, it is easy to hide in the background while engineering a move away. Especially as players can use the excuse that West Ham need the money.
So it says a lot that Taty has liked the statement released by West Ham confirming that Nuno is set to stay as head coach.
Some have argued Taty is active on social media.
But a player would not like that statement unless they agreed with the decision to keep Nuno and cared about the club.
Why would Taty care about the Hammers keeping the manager and their vow to return to the Premier League unless he intended sticking around himself?
Of course he may have little say in the matter if the board receive an offer which is too good to turn down in light of the fact at least £100-150m needs to be raised in player sales.
But if West Ham can keep the versatile forward then hopes of an instant return to the top flight will look very realistic indeed.
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