Taty Castellanos might have been a brand new name to many Premier League viewers, but Andoni Iraola needs no introduction to West Ham United’s January signing ahead of Saturday’s clash with AFC Bournemouth.
The former Lazio striker only played two La Liga matches against Iraola’s Rayo Vallecano side. But he scored in one of them; a penalty for Girona in 2-2 draw during the 2022/23 campaign.
Now, when completing that £27 million move to West Ham United, Castellanos promised to bring ‘incredible energy’ to the London Stadium, as well as a healthy supply of goals. ‘Energy’ is also the word Iraola uses when highlighting the talents of a ‘very, very good number nine’ now wearing claret and blue.
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The Argentina international opened his Premier League account against Burnley a fortnight ago. A first home goal in England’s top flight against Bournemouth for Taty Castellanos, and the Hammers could end the weekend outside of the relegation zone should Nottingham Forest lose to Liverpool less than 24 hours later.
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Andoni Iraola faced West Ham United striker Taty Castellanos in Spain
While Nuno feels West Ham are ‘lucky’ to have a striker with such dedication and dynamism – his infectious enthusiasm and relentless work ethic made him an instant fan favourite – Iraola accepts his Bournemouth backline will have to be at their most switched-on as two form sides go head to head.
The Cherries are one of only three teams – alongside Chelsea and Manchester United – to have picked up more than West Ham’s ten points across the last five matchdays.
“I feel normally we play quite well against West Ham but they always find the way of punishing us,” says Iraola, who has overseen five successive league draws against the Londoners.
“They have very good players offensively and now we are facing them in probably their best moment of the season. They are coming from really great results, great performances, playing really well and you know the threats they have.”
Iraola also highlights Crysencio Summerville, Jarrod Bowen, and the perennially box-crashing Tomas Soucek. Summerville is in ‘almost unstoppable’ form with six goals in seven games. Bowen has found his scoring boots again, and Soucek is now the Premier League’s greatest-ever Czech goalscorer. A record he took for himself while putting West Ham ahead against Man United.
“Summerville, Bowen, Soucek arriving [in the box], the strikers they’ve signed now in the winter market. I know Taty Castellanos from La Liga very well,” Iraola adds. “He’s a very, very good number nine.
“I think he has given a lot of energy to that team and I think you can feel the difference.
“No, I think the new arrivals obviously for sure helped. Also Disasi at the back, the strikers. I think it makes them a better team, but I think they are playing really well lately.”
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West Ham will be without Pablo Felipe against Bournemouth, however, as Castellanos’ fellow winter arrival recovers from a calf injury. The prospect of starting Mateus Fernandes as the number ten has divided the fans, with many feeling that he is most effective as a box-to-box number eight.
Nuno, then, has a dilemma over whether to play Fernandes deeper while potentially bringing Callum Wilson back into the XI in Pablo’s place.
“I’ve been watching last games and even I think the only game they’ve lost in the last seven or something like this, including the cup, is at Stamford Bridge,” Iraola points out. “They had really, really good moments [in that 3-2 defeat by Chelsea] and they lost it in stoppage time.
“But they were really good. So I think it’s going to be a difficult one considering this situation also.
“For sure, the atmosphere will be lively in the stadium, so we have to be ready because it’s a team that has started really strong last games. I think almost all the last games they’ve scored first. So we have to be very ready and we have to improve our starts, because we also conceded the first goal against [Aston] Villa, the first goal against Everton.
“So I think we need to start strong.
“I think [Fernandes] was very good even at Southampton,” the Spaniard says, days after Axel Disasi admitted that Mateus Fernandes had surprised him with the true extent of his ability.
“He was already playing very well and now he’s probably even assuming more responsibility. He covers a lot of ground, very good on the ball, very young. They paid also a lot of money for him because he’s a player that everyone knows that he’s a very good player.”
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