Taty Castellanos opened his account in the English Premier League, with the former New York City FC striker scoring the second goal in West Ham United FC’s critical 2-0 away win over Burnley FC at Turf Moor.
Castellanos powered a bullet header home from a pinpoint El Hadji Malick Diouf cross in the 26th minute, a perfectly-executed and swift move for a goal that West Ham desperately needed.
The win helped the Hammers pull to within three points of Nottingham Forest FC, the team in 17th Place in the Premier League table and thus currently safe from relegation. You can watch the goal below or here if that doesn't work.
West Ham lingers in 18th Place in the Premier League, though they're now eight points above Burnley in 19th Place, with this win representing a "relegation six-pointer," as the Premier League-watchers like to call it.
Taty picked a perfect time to get his first Premier League goal, but this wasn't his first time scoring for West Ham, as Castellanos got off the mark with his new club in his second West Ham appearance, a home win over Queens Park Rangers FC in the FA Cup.
Castellanos joined West Ham from SS Lazio in Italy in a reported €30 million transfer early in January, with New York City FC receiving millions of that fee thanks to the sell-on clause they retained when Taty was sold to Lazio in 2022. West Ham now have four wins from the six matches they've played in all competitions with Castellanos in their lineup, a turnaround that's given them a glimmer of hope of staving off relegation.
Unconfirmed reports claim NYCFC received 15% of the €30 million fee paid by West Ham, roughly $5.26 million, furthering the smart business that was selling the striker for €20 million during the summer of 2022.
With the goal, Castellanos becomes just the second-ever New York City FC export to score in the English Premier League. Taty joins Jack Harrison, who broke through in the Premier League by scoring his first goal with Leeds United FC on September 12, 2020 at Anfield in a 4-3 loss to Liverpool FC. Harrison, who is now loaned out by Leeds to ACF Fiorentina in Italy’s Serie A, ended up on 25 career Premier League goals across 181 combined appearances for Leeds plus Everton FC.
Zooming out further, the number is now up to five players to don NYCFC colors and to also play at least once in the English Premier League: Castellanos, Harrison, plus Jo Inge Berget (Cardiff City, one 12-minute EPL appearance), Angeliño (six EPL appearances with Manchester City), and NYCFC's most famous Premier League import, Frank Lampard. Christian McFarlane, teenaged fullback from the NYCFC Academy, signed a contract with Man City, but has yet to make his Premier League debut.
Only Lampard, Harrison, and now Taty have scored goals in the Premier League and for NYCFC in Major League Soccer, and Castellanos's first for West Ham was yet another feather in the cap for the player and for the team that first accelerated his journey to the heights of European soccer, New York City FC.
Hudson River Blue Staff
