West Ham United head coach Julen Lopetegui brought Niclas Fullkrug to the club in the summer.
Julen Lopetegui was officially announced as the new West Ham head coach on July 1st, and one of his most important jobs was to sign a top-class striker.
The Hammers manager initially wanted to bring Jhon Duran to the London Stadium, but he settled on Niclas Fullkrug in the end.
West Ham paid more than £25 million to bring Fullkrug to the club in the summer, and that is already looking like a questionable decision.
The Hammers were accused of overpaying for the experienced Germany international in the summer, and that’s probably a fair suggestion.
However, Fullkrug is a proven centre-forward, and many believed that he would thrive under Lopetegui at West Ham.
That has been far from the case though. He suffered a serious injury during the first international break of the season, and now Lopetegui has devised a new plan of action to help get the best out of the striker.
Niclas Fullkrug twist after Julen Lopetegui makes decision
The Hammers striker has been absent from action for us over the past month now.
His situation is very much up in the air right now – nobody knows when he will actually return to action for West Ham.
Fullkrug’s transition from the Bundesliga to the Premier League has been far from seamless, that’s for sure.
And now a new plan has been devised by him and Lopetegui, as he looks to return from injury.
According to a report from Sport Bild, Fullkrug has come to a new agreement with Lopetegui – one that will see his return to first-team football staggered.
I presume that means that he will be eased back into action from the bench.
After his injury, that really is the only way to facilitate his return to full fitness. However, I believe Lopetegui made a big mistake by not throwing him in from the start as soon as he joined the club.
Niclas Fullkrug should have been thrown in from the start
Strikers thrive on goals, that’s the bottom line.
Had Lopetegui started Fullkrug in the first Premier League game of the season against Aston Villa, the German would have been full of confidence, having just joined signed for the Hammers for £25 million from Borussia Dortmund.
Instead, Lopetegui chose to give him a few minutes in dribs and drabs. It would have been incredibly hard for the 31-year-old to start scoring immediately, given the fact that he was just playing 20 minutes of football here and there.
The way that Lopetegui has eased his new signings into action has been one of my main gripes with the Spaniard, and Moyes before him in all fairness.
This method just doesn’t work with strikers in my opinion, because it puts them behind the eight-ball immediately.
Now that he’s coming back from his injury though, a few substitute appearances will be the only way to help him regain full fitness, and his confidence of course.
It’s a shame that Niclas Fullkrug has endured such a tough start to life with West Ham, and I must say, I think Julen Lopetegui has to take some of the blame for the striker’s struggles.
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