West Ham head coach Julen Lopetegui has sensationally admitted that he does not know when Niclas Fullkrug will return to the team.
The £27m striker was injured in September while on international duty with Germany and hasn’t been seen since. What was initially believed to be a relatively minor injury has now led Fullkrug to make two trips back to his homeland in an effort to secure a diagnosis and treatment.
This raises the possibility that West Ham’s big signing from Dortmund may never make a starting appearance under Lopetegui, especially if the Hammers’ head coach loses to Everton.
Reports that Fullkrug would not return until December are now looking frighteningly accurate. This timeline, however, may be too late for Lopetegui, who admitted he knows very little about the player’s recovery: “Fullkrug is out. He is working with us, but he will unfortunately be unavailable. We have Kudus and Alvarez out after their red cards, but we will have to assess the rest of the squad.”
“I don’t know how long Fullkrug will be out. He started with a small injury, but it has become more complicated,” Lopetegui told the assembled press. “He will be out for the next two or three weeks, but I don’t know exactly. It depends on how he responds to treatment, so we’ll see.”
It becomes difficult to answer the same questions time and time again with different words on each occasion. Julen tries to be honest but that does not seem to be enough for the clever inquisitors trying to prise exact details to break stories. If they keep at him with the obtuse interrogations, he is likely to clam up competely. It has been done before.
It would be nice if these guys were his friends and accepted answers and announcements at face value and in an understanding manner.
We will get more out of him in this way. He will be happier and that happiness will spread over the whole club.
COYI
I attempted to give a detailed comment re that particular injury on another site. the short and long of it is that it probably will never leave him , and will keep flaring up, under applied stress , he therefore will have to nurse it carefully.
The reality is this is nothing to do with JLo and all to do with the medical staff. Either they have misdiagnosed the injury or provided incorrect guidance to Fullkrug on recovery work…….or alternatively Fulkrug has gone against guidance, which seems unlikely.
Are the medical staff unchanged since Moyse or are they JLo’s picks?
What do you mean “sensationally admitted”? Did you seriously expect anything else. This idiot is so devoid of knowledge on all things football, why on earth would he know anything about the extent of an injury to one of his players.
Sometimes Gonzo, you ask too much.
He should be back around March time then,just in time for our relegation run in.
Not interested in anything this 🇪🇸🤡 knows or says…. Unless it’s audios amigos and he is gone 👋