The latest centre-forward to be linked with Premier League outfit West Ham United would bring with him plenty of pedigree. After all, there are not many strikers in football history who can claim to have done what he did to the mighty Real Madrid.
In fact, since 2001, only seven players have crashed a La Liga hat-trick on Los Blancos’ head.
In that very exclusive club sit a few very familiar faces. Lionel Messi [twice, of course], Luis Suarez and West Ham United’s own Carlos Soler; The former Valencia captain had the unique honour of firing three penalties into Real Madrid’s net during a 4-1 battering half-a-decade ago.
Real Sociedad icon Xabi Prieto achieved the feat in 2013. Ditto former Espanyol and Birmingham City hitman Walter Pandiani in 2007. The most recent, meanwhile, was Alexander Sorloth.
The one-time Crystal Palace misfit turned Spanish football sensation is only the second player in the last 78 years to score four goals in a single game against the 15-time European champions.
The other, meanwhile, is a name which may not be too familiar amongst West Ham supporters. That will change, though, if Valentin ‘Taty’ Castellanos becomes the next centre-forward attempting to vanquish the so-called striker curse dooming the spirit of every number nine who dares enter the London Stadium.
West Ham target Taty Castellanos made history against Real Madrid
According to La Lazio Siamo Noi, an Italian publication who specialise in all things Biancocelesti, Taty Castellanos is on West Ham’s radar ahead of the summer window. Not for the first time, mind you.
The Hammers reportedly saw an £8.5 million bid rejected back in January 2022, when Castellanos was banging in the goals on the Major League Soccer stage for New York City FC.
Three years on, while Castellanos’ price-tag has risen to somewhere in the region of £30 million, the twice-capped Argentina international can justify those increased costs with a proven track record in two major European leagues.
Reportedly also a target for Villarreal, Real Betis, Wolves and Nottingham Forest, Castellanos has hit double figures in Serie A this season for a Lazio side battling Juventus for Champions League qualification.
In all competitions, he has 14.
That is actually the same amount Castellanos plundered during his breakout campaign with Girona in 2022/23. A season best remembered for that one-man destruction of Real Madrid. A performance, meanwhile, which inscribed his name forever into the La Liga history books.
Because, doing what no player had done in nearly eighty years, Castellanos scored a hat-trick against Los Blancos and then went one better. Between the 12th and the 62nd minute, he beat Andriy Lunin in the visiting goal four times.
Castellanos’ ‘dream night’ showcases the quality West Ham need
His first, a trademark thumping header from a man so effective in the air. Castellanos then shrugged off Eder Militao – not an easy feat to achieve – before nutmegging Lunin in style.
A clinical first-time strike completed his hat-trick, and then another header just to lather the icing on top of a cake so sweet it would have dentists throughout Catalonia wincing at the thought.
“It’s the dream night,” a breathless Castellanos said following his historic display, scarcely able to believe what he had just achieved. “We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and I could not have imagined that [I would score four].
“I will savour it with our supporters, my family, my relatives in Argentina, in Mendoza, who always support me. Between MLS and here, these are two different things. Scoring against Real Madrid was already a dream, so scoring four goals…
“I let you imagine.”
Of course, one stunning performance three years ago is not enough on its own to justify West Ham making a £30 million move for a player they tried to sign when he was a reigning MLS Cup champion.
But, as Graham Potter’s Hammers team is light on speed and intensity in the final third Bowen-aside, Castellanos’ excellent work rate off the ball and his pace across the frontline could translate well into the Premier League.
His eye for the spectacular – see his dazzling acrobatic volley against Genoa recently – also highlights the sort of maverick quality which tends to have West Ham supporters tripping head over heels in adoration.
See Paolo Di Canio, Carlos Tevez, [briefly] Dimitri Payet, for instance.
“Castellanos is a strong player. An extraordinary guy,” explains Lazio coach Marco Baroni. “He has jumping ability, quality, technique, and works hard for the team.”
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
