Finally there’s good news on the transfer front. West Ham fans have become sick of reading that their prized assets are to be sold off in the event of relegation – with speculation rife even before the season has ended linking the Irons’ young, exciting talent with high profile sales to top sides.
Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville feature prominently in reports linking the duo with top six sides – in addition to some of Europe’s finest sides. So it is welcome news indeed to hear of one West Ham player that nobody wants to see returns to the club finally linked with a transfer away.
Niclas Fullkrug has flopped at AC Milan on his half-season loan with just one goal and is due to report back to Rush Green after the Italian season concludes on Sunday. The player, West Ham’s management and supporters will feel the same – Fullkrug needs to be moved on and the Hammers need closure on one of their worst pieces of transfer business in recent years.
Milan sending Fullkrug back to West Ham despite their ludicrously cheap option to buy
Step up Serie A’s newly promoted Venezia. According to football-italia.net: Fullkrug, it seems, is top of their shopping list:
“Venezia targeting summer transfer for West Ham’s Füllkrug after Milan spell: Reports in Italy claim that Niclas Füllkrug could be set to stay in Serie A for 2026-27, but with newly-promoted Venezia instead of Milan, who will send the German back to West Ham at the end of his loan spell.
According to journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Venezia are keen to sign the 33-year-old this summer.”
Which will be an arrangement that suits the player, West Ham and presumably Venezia too. Fullkrug’s transfer fee is unlikely to put much of a dent in West Ham’s £190m transfer fee debt – but in true Tesco lingo:“Every little helps” and at least it’ll get his £75k a week wages off the Hammers books.
Good news all round. Fingers crossed for Fullkrug that it leads to a late bloom in his fortunes.
Where was Mark Noble when all of these figures were being agreed?
Fullkrug is on the books at about £18m by the time amortisation and loan fees received are considered.
I doubt he could be sold for that so I’d expect him to go out on loan again, amortising more while on loan and bringing in more loan fees.
Worth about £12m on the books at the end of next season, book value coming down by which time he’ll be 34 brings in another consideration…
His book value isn’t falling as fast as his sale value due to his age so it looks like a hit will be taken on Fullkrug at some point.
He amortises to zero in June 2028 but will have also brought in loan fees bringing the book value = zero date forward on that. He will be about 35 when his book value = zero.
All players amortise to zero eventually. Fullkrug was a bad buy that would not have happened if we’d made the good buy of Jhon Duran who would have been worth more than we payed for him as soon as we put him on a long contract plus likely would have been a success.
One of the unhinged decisions that sees us in grave danger of imminent relegation.