So, Guido Rodríguez regrets moving to the Premier League, and Niclas Füllkrug can’t settle in the UK either… just another day at West Ham, I guess.
But this most ridiculous situation does beg the question: how have the Hammers ended up signing both of these players in the first place? The most obvious error lies with Füllkrug, whose injury record—brilliantly detailed by Matt this afternoon—gave every indication that he was likely to end up side-lined sooner rather than later.
A far harder metric to measure is how well a player will settle overseas, but one would have thought this might have been explored before the transfers were completed. That being said, the two players are different cases. Rodríguez, for instance, is clearly ill-equipped for the fast-paced Premier League, while we don’t yet know whether Füllkrug would be good, bad, or indifferent in the EPL.
However, it seems he hasn’t settled, likely for personal reasons rather than footballing ones. Given the close relationship between Tim Steidten and Füllkrug, one would have expected this to be properly assessed before signing off on the £27m transfer.
As for Rodríguez, someone surely should have spotted that he was too slow for the English game and would struggle at West Ham. Julen Lopetegui’s tactics have placed far too much pressure on our sluggish midfield, leaving them chasing shadows they’ll never catch. I do believe the Argentinian is a good player and could thrive in La Liga, though I’m starting to seriously doubt whether Barcelona were ever truly interested in signing him.
Ultimately, for all of West Ham’s structural changes, the same old problems persist. We’re haemorrhaging millions on strikers who don’t work out and signing players unsuited to our style
