West Ham forward Taty Castellanos
West Ham forward Taty Castellanos
In the winter transfer window, Sport Witness extensively covered West Ham’s move for Taty Castellanos.
The striker joined the Hammers permanently after Lazio faced financial worries and were forced into major sales.
The Argentine has already showed signs of his abilities in London, scoring twice. This comes right after he had contributed to five goals for Lazio despite battling an injury problem earlier in the campaign.
The striker has now opened up about his best role and why he can really thrive in the Premier League.
West Ham player sees himself as similar to a false nine
Castellanos spoke to the ‘Agusneta y Teo Delia’ podcast on Youtube and was asked quite a few tactical questions about his playing style, Serie A and how football is played in England.
He made it clear that he sees himself as more of a false nine.
The forward said – relayed by LaLazioSiamoNoi: “I’m a different player than a penalty nine, like Martin Palermo was. I’m more of a center forward in today’s football, more modern, who moves around a lot to find the ball. I’m almost a false nine. I prefer playing with another striker, like Inter do in Italy, for example.”
Castellanos enjoyed his time under former Lazio manager Marco Baroni, as he operated in a front two.
“With Baroni at Lazio, I had a lot of fun because we played with two strikers, either Pedro or Dia. We played very well and scored a lot, we even finished first in the Europa League. Pedro has started playing behind the striker in recent years and he loves it.”
The forward also believes he could thrive and score more in England than he did in Italy. He explained the tactical reasons behind that.
“The Italian league, on the other hand, is very defensive. It was quite difficult for me as a striker.
“There are many teams that sit back, and it’s very difficult for a striker. But I had a lot of fun. I loved the Italian league. Here in England, football is more physical. You attack a lot more. It’s more fun for a striker.”
Castellanos provides key details
To a large extent, the Argentine is right. He was never a proper number nine at Lazio and was often dropping deep to help out the midfielders. He doesn’t really have a great passing range but relies more on link-up, one-twos and combination play.
So far at West Ham, that has already been evident and there are signs that he is getting to grips with the Premier League.
Luckily, Nuno Espirito Santo has used a front two a lot of times in his career. This can help Castellanos quite a bit going forward – as it did under Baroni.
He contributed to 15 goals under the Italian in Serie A last season. It shows that changing to a front two might not be a bad idea for West Ham at all.