Let’s be honest — West Ham’s botched striker recruitment policy can’t possibly get any worse. News that Niclas Füllkrug wants to leave the London Stadium will come as little surprise to most Hammers fans.
In truth, the big German described his transfer from Borussia Dortmund as “a nightmare” early into his first season. One particularly unfortunate interview back home hinted that Premier League money had simply been too tempting to turn down.
At the time, ESPN Bundesliga commentator Ian Darke told us on Hammers Chat that “West Ham had paid over the odds” for Füllkrug — and it’s hard to argue now.
Niclas Fullkrug has been a waste of £27m for West Ham
Same Old Story
Injuries haven’t helped, nor has the fact that the 32-year-old was reportedly viewed as wasted money by Tim Steidten. But if we take a step back, it’s clear the real issue lies in West Ham’s long-running inability to identify a reliable striker.
To put it bluntly, the club are terrible at this. The two best forwards of the Sullivan era — Michail Antonio and Marko Arnautović — both arrived as wingers.
Claret & Hugh were told this morning that any Füllkrug deal is “a long way off,” but there is tentative Bundesliga interest. One can only hope Nuno Espirito Santo has a clearer plan for January, because David Sullivan’s hit-and-hope approach has failed to find the right man for the job in over 50 attempts.
As for Füllkrug, he’ll likely be remembered for his injuries and a decent pre-season — not much return on a £27 million investment. As one souce told us: “You’ll never see that money again.”
Steidten cost us a lot in failed transfers, no wonder Moyes didn’t want him to have final say on transfers
not saying the supporters are all transfer experts, but signings like this have been appalling for years.
when he signed, everyone outside, and probably lots in the club asked the question, who? how old ? how much!
it’s the same time after time, year after year.
I can understand why Steidten went for his big German mate. It was someone he knew, was in form and was available. Someone at the club should have vetoed it probably given his injury record but there you go. We all thought he might do a job in the premier league, big strong target man but it wasn’t to be. Funnily enough he is Nunos type of striker, he likes the big man upfront who can hold the ball up. Unlucky with injuries though, looks like we might not ever get to see that.
Come on Gonzo, give the guy a break. He was Germanys centre forward, he can’t be all bad. What makes him a waste of money has been his injuries. Haarland would have struggled to score with the team that has been playing around him lately, Sunday excluded of course.
Slightly misleading headline there. The guy is not yet a 27 million pound loss. Unless he is released on a free ar the next transfer window. Even then it wouldn’t be a 27 million loss on the psr books.
But you just wanted a click and you got it. Makes me less likely to engage in the future. But that’s not the business model here
The only stellar striker signed was Demba Ba.
Yes we were relegated after he joined during the January window.
However, Sullivan is on record as saying that his biggest mistake was not retaining him for the Championship campaign, he would of stayed had we continued to pay his PL salary. Who did we replace h woth under BFS?
Yep, a plethera of …… from Carew, to some no mark from Bristol City (Nicky Maynard) and so it goes on until present day.
So even when they got it right, they managed to then get it horribly wrong.
FYI. Ba went to CFC and NUFC.
We limped on with Carlton (4th choice) Cole until sick note AC rocked up.
Its so painful threading numerous recruitment mistakes ttogether. However, that’s only in the no.9 posistion, there’s
countless other posistions we’ve continuosly knacked up in?
I’d thought Diafro Sakho was a brilliant striker for us. He and Enner Valencia were a great partnership for a few games until Big Sam put AC back in. Never saw that partnership again.