Who is…the West Ham loan star brought in to score goals?
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Despite being a household name to the South American football fraternity, there will be plenty of West Ham fans whose dossiers on new loan signing Jonathan Calleri are still very thin.
For those Irons and any other interested parties, the Ladbrokes News team are on hand to elaborate a little further about the latest striker to arrive at the Olympic Stadium this summer.
Hot on the heels of record signing Andre Ayew, who has subsequently given manager Slaven Bilic a real headache after picking up a thigh injury on debut, Calleri arrives boasting a fearsome reputation on South American shores to soothe the manager’s bonce instanteanously.
Still only 22, the Argentine has done what all good strikers should and forged a burgeoning reputation on goals; netting 45 in only 120 senior appearances to date.Thirty nine of these arrived in his last two campaigns.
After just one season plying his trade for local Buenos Aires side Old Boys in Argentina’s second tier, far bigger boys Boca Juniors then swooped.
In just one season, his 16 goals in 41 appearances helped the South American giants to their quickest ever league title, though financial forces then appeared to play a role in a slightly strange switch to Uruguayan club Deportivo Maldanado.
Having not kicked a ball for his new club (Maldanado still own him) a successful six-month loan to Brazilian side Sau Paulo swiftly followed.
Calleri’s habit of finding the net continued where he left off at Boca. Nine goals en route to the Copa Libertadores semi-finals saw the freshest face at the Olympic Stadium finish as the competition’s highest scorer.
These predatory instincts could be called upon immediately in claret and blue, with Bilic’s latest capture available for the first-leg of their final-round Europa League play-off against Astra Giurgiu in Romania on Thursday evening.
Andy Carroll is our current 5/4 favourite to mark the contest, but should Calleri make the bench, keep an eye on our last-scorer markets in particular.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
