West Ham tried to overhaul their attacking lineup this past summer transfer window and give Julen Lopetegui two lines of front line quality to draw upon, but Carlos Soler and Crysencio Summerville haven’t been starters this season while Niclas Fullkrug has struggled to even get on the pitch for the Hammers.
This winter, West Ham were desperate to get in a true No. 9 with Fullkrug flopping and brought in promising youngster Evan Ferguson, but he’s still finding his feet and unlikely to be at the club for more than the months of his current loan deal.
So it will likely be back to the striker well again this summer transfer window for the Hammers, and West Ham are already being linked to a promising player abroad.
Santiago Castro would be a better signing than Niclas Fullkrug
According to a report from Inter News in Italy, West Ham are joining the Serie A champions with an interest in signing Bologna striker Santiago Castro, who has more than stepped up as Joshua Zirkzee’s replacement for the Champions League breakout side with a big breakout season of his own in 2024/25.
Transfermarkt rates Castro as a 25 million euro player, which means the 20-year-old No. 9 could be at a similar price point as Fullkrug with less injury risk, much more upside, and, probably, better immediate quality.
Castro has been lighting Serie A up this season for Bologna with 7 goals, 4 assists, and 1.6 fouls drawn per game in the Zirkzee role with a less competitive team around him.
While Castro isn’t a slam dunk player and West Ham have clearly overpaid for attacking breakout stars too often in the recent past, he is a worthwhile forward to monitor.
After all, if Inter Milan are watching him, then there must be something to the young man. Just look at Inter’s strikers. They don’t have any schlubs in their quartet of Marcus Thuram, Lautaro Martinez, Mehdi Taremi, and Mark Arnautovic; they often get it right at the position.
Meanwhile, West Ham only have two players who have scored more than five goals in the 2024/25 Premier League season thus far: star right winger Jarrod Bowen and, gulp, veteran defensive midfielder Tomas Soucek.
It looks like West Ham are going to be back on the striker market in the summer 2025 window, and it looks like Santiago Castro will be yet another name for Hammers supporters to familiarize themselves with in the final months of the season. If anything, it’ll give them a chance to watch an actual title race in Serie A.
