West Ham United are surprised by Taty Castellanos’ struggles in the Championship, Hammers News can exclusively reveal, with a leading club source making a big admission about the club’s striker issues.

The Argentine initially won over Hammers supporters following his £27m arrival from Lazio in January, thanks to his relentless pressing, commitment, aggression and occasional flashes of quality. Valentin ‘Taty’ Castellanos also produced a respectable scoring return in the Premier League during West Ham’s ultimately unsuccessful fight against relegation.

That is why many Hammers fans expected Castellanos to thrive after the club dropped into the Championship.

Instead, his performances and goalscoring return have deteriorated, leaving Nuno Espirito Santo and his side short of the reliable centre-forward a team aiming for automatic promotion so desperately needs.

West Ham source admits surprise at Taty’s struggles

The £27m man has lost his starting place to Pablo, who offers plenty of hard work and physicality but has struggled with his own finishing. Castellanos failed to make a convincing case for his return when introduced from the bench in West Ham’s crucial victory over Swansea at the weekend.

And his struggles are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Hammers News put Castellanos’ disappointing start to the Championship campaign to a leading source inside the club, asking whether West Ham had expected the forward to make a greater impact in the second tier.

The response was revealing, with the club saying the striker’s lack of goals has come as a surprise behind the scenes and making an admission about the striker situation in general.

Although the leading West Ham source also made it clear nobody at the club is overly concerned or panicking.

“It is amazing Taty isn’t doing better,” the leading West Ham source exclusively told Hammers News.

“He got six in the Premier League in under half a season. We do need one of the forwards to fire because it is so hard to find a good striker.

“That said and done, despite perhaps not playing great at times and lacking up front, we do have six wins and two draws from the last eight games which suggests the team is functioning.”

Fullkrug’s form makes West Ham striker situation worse

The comments underline West Ham’s frustration. Castellanos showed enough during his first few months in east London to suggest he could become an important player, yet he has not carried that form into the Championship.

There is still time for the 27-year-old to turn things around, but with Pablo and Joel Piroe also struggling for consistency, West Ham desperately need one of their forwards to start scoring regularly.

The timing of Castellanos’ struggles is particularly awkward given the form of another striker owned by West Ham.

Niclas Fullkrug has been scoring freely on loan at Werder Bremen, with seven goals in seven appearances following another brace at the weekend.

While the German’s struggles with fitness and availability in England made his departure understandable, his resurgence has inevitably raised questions about West Ham’s attacking options.

Some supporters believed Fullkrug could have been a useful option in the Championship, where his physical presence and finishing might have proved more effective than his pace and mobility did in the Premier League.

Instead, he is finding the net in Germany while West Ham’s current forward line continues to misfire.

West Ham explained the truth behind Fullkrug’s departure in light of his latest heroics for Bremen.

The club’s position is complicated by the fact that finding a dependable goalscorer is one of the most difficult tasks in football.

As the source made clear, West Ham do not necessarily need all three forwards to hit top form at once. They need one of them to start delivering consistently.