West Ham spent 27 million pounds to sign Borussia Dortmund striker Niclas Fullkrug this summer after the German international was unwilling to compete with new BVB signing Serhou Guirassy, who had scored 28 goals in the previous season to lead Stuttgart to an unlikely Champions League berth.
The Fullkrug transfer wasn’t without its criticisms due to the hefty transfer fee for a 31-year-old player, but he showed up well for the Champions League Finalists last season and proved to be Germany’s best option at the 9 this summer at Euro 2024.
Unfortunately for West Ham, the club has been unable to benefit from its best out-and-out No. 9 this season, as the experienced big man has been out injured since making just three substitute appearances in the Premier League (for a total of 63 minutes) and one League Cup start for the Hammers.
According to a report from Sky Sports Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, Niclas Fullkrug is expected to begin training again within a matter of days and should be able to return to the West Ham lineup in November after the international break.
That means Fullkrug could be in line for a return on Nov. 25 for a big Premier League clash against another team with aspirations of returning to European football, Newcastle.
As for Fullkrug’s future in West Ham with transfer rumors rumbling in the background, Plettenberg says that the 31-year-old has no plans of abandoning ship after just moving to London in the summer.
More importantly, West Ham are not even thinking about Fullkrug either. They reportedly are believers in the striker they paid good money to sign after he posted multiple quality seasons in the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen and Dortmund.
Now, it’s just a matter of the big guy getting healthy and integrated into a West Ham side that has deep options on the wings, and at Dortmund, Fullkrug proved last season that he can help set those wide guys up with goal-scoring chances, too.
Sure, the price tag may have been bloated for a player with no resale value at his age, but Fullkrug does have something to offer, especially since Julen Lopetegui and West Ham specifically wanted a big guy who is light on his feet with some box presence at the 9.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.