West Ham United are chasing New York City FC attacker Valentin Castellanos – and Pep Guardiola has backed him for big success.
West Ham chase Castellanos
The Manchester Evening News claim that West Ham have already made an enquiry into signing Castellanos.
Turkish side Besiktas are also thought to be interested in Castellanos, with the January window just weeks away.
NYCFC have allegedly slapped a £15million asking price on Castellanos, meaning he won’t exactly come cheap in the January window.
Who is Valentin Castellanos?
Castellanos, 23, was born in Argentina but actually came through with Universidad de Chile before featuring at Torque.
After a 2018 loan at NYCFC, his move to MLS was made permanent in 2019.
With 19 goals in his first 76 games for NYCFC, Castellanos didn’t exactly look like a player who could end up in the Premier League with West Ham.
However, Castellanos – known as ‘Taty’ – has emerged as a star this past season.
Castellanos smashed 23 goals in 36 games, adding eight assists. He scored in Saturday’s MLS Cup final win over Portland Timbers over the weekend.
Guardiola offers his verdict
Manchester City have close ties to NYCFC, with both clubs under the City Football Group umbrella.
City boss Pep Guardiola has been asked for his view on NYCFC’s success over Portland Timbers, and he praised Castellanos.
Guardiola has told the Manchester Evening News that he thinks Castellanos is a ‘quality player’ and predicted a move to Europe – which could be with West Ham.
“I think he is a guy who will do the next step in Europe,” said Guardiola. “What I saw when the scouting department talk to me, when [former New York City manager] Dome Torrent said when I was there [in 2018] and talk about him, I know he is a quality player and I think he is ready to make the next step to Europe. We will see where,” he added.
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