West Ham have surely decided that time is up for £27 million striker Niclas Füllkrug.
Claret & Hugh were exclusively informed earlier that the Hammers are on the lookout for a top-class centre-forward and are aiming to generate funds for the purchase.
Füllkrug has been homesick and seeking a return to Germany since he joined West Ham from Borussia Dortmund in the summer. It was hoped the striker would be a top-class addition to the Hammers squad, but unfortunately, injury scuppered any chance of him integrating into the team.
It is also worth noting that Hammers head coach Julen Lopetegui is in search of a more mobile striker rather than a traditional target man.
The fact that a top West Ham insider told C&H the club were looking to sign a top player in Füllkrug’s position surely signals the end of the player’s short Irons career.
Even though the 31-year-old has been available for selection for the past three games, it is evident that the Hammers boss prefers to use winger Jarrod Bowen ahead of Füllkrug. It now seems the striker has dropped down the pecking order to become third-choice at London Stadium.
We could be lined up for a very busy transfer window.
Ings and Antonio are out of contract in the summer. Bowen’s best and most effective position is on the RW.
We should’ve signed Viktor Gyökeres but Moyes put a stop to that. Should have signed Duran but Sullivan stopped that.
Having only one recognised striker in Fullkrug at the season end shows just how bad our vision & strategy is at West Ham.
We will need possibly 3 strikers if we sell Fullkrug and considering our recent record with Scammacca, Ings and Haller I’d say that is unlikely.
Wasting another 25 million on a third rate striker makes no sense so of course that’s probably what Sullivan will do . No team wants to sell mid season and no quality striker wants to come to a club in crisis . One job now for Westham and that’s not get relegated . Get the right players for hopefully the new manager in the summer .
Why does it have to be the end for Fullkrug. Most top clubs have more than one striker.
I would say it’s unlikely we will sign a big striker because we are unlikley to end up in Europe, am not convinced Duran or any other big striker would look good in our side, Villa have an established style, are well organised and everyone knows their job, we are a long way off that and based on history are a graveyard for top strikers, Scamacca, Haller, Ings, Fullkrug presently we need to change our style so that we start to create goals for strikers in different ways and that doesn’t look like Floppy’s style.
What little we have seen of Füllkrug he has been fine. We have plenty of pace on the wings and through the middle. I couldn’t believe how fast Paqueta booked it up the pitch last match. So a target who can score? Works for me.