West Ham United director of football Tim Steidten signed Niclas Fullkrug in the summer transfer window.
Tim Steidten pushed hard to bring Niclas Fullkrug to West Ham, despite the majority of the fanbase calling for Jhon Duran to be brought to the London Stadium.
Julen Lopetegui has only given the 31-year-old striker 63 minutes of Premier League action so far this season, and the Hammers head coach hasn’t been able to call upon him since the last day of August.
Fullkrug picked up an injury during training with the German national team in early September, although it has been claimed that he could be ready to return for our clash with Arsenal next weekend.
The former Borussia Dortmund man is already being heavily linked with an exit from West Ham in January.
Fullkrug leaving the Hammers this winter would surprise nobody – it’s clear to see he’s not what we need.
However, what would his chief supporter Steidten think about the club giving up on the Germany international so soon?
It seems like the director of football has had a really big change of heart…
Tim Steidten performs big U-turn on Niclas Fullkrug
The German is clearly not settled in well at the London Stadium.
His Achilles problem undoubtedly hasn’t helped matters, but even when he did play for us earlier this season he seemed to be miles off the pace.
I get that it’s still very early days, but the outlook is very bleak for Fullkrug.
And now it seems like he has lost one of his main cheerleaders.
According to well-known club insider Sean Whetstone, Tim Steidten will struggle to sell Niclas Fullkrug in January even if he wanted to.
A return to Germany is Fullkrug’s preference, but Bundesliga clubs would struggle to pay the fee that the Hammers are demanding.
That’s quite the U-turn from Steidten isn’t it, considering that the German pushed so hard to sign his countryman in the summer.
The really frustrating thing is that the majority of West Ham fans warned the 45-year-old about signing the striker before he had even made the switch to East London.
Niclas Fullkrug a terrible signing from Tim Steidten
The 31-year-old proved himself with Borussia Dortmund last summer, but there was always doubts that he would struggle to adapt to the intense speed of Premier League football.
He hasn’t got any pace whatsoever, and we desperately needed some real explosive speed through the middle.
Then there was Fullkrug’s checkered past with injuries – something that was seemingly overlooked by Steidten.
The Germany international has missed a shocking 84 games through injury since the start of the 2018/19 season.
Why was that injury history not checked in more detail? He’ll be 32 just after the new year as well, so the only way for him is down from here on out, certainly from a physical perspective.
Tim Steidten had an absolute shocker bringing Niclas Fullkrug to West Ham in the summer transfer window.
And it seems like he won’t even be able to atone for that mistake when the January window opens up in 39 day’s time.
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