West Ham haven’t had much luck with strikers over the last 15 years, if any at all.
Countless forwards have come and gone in east London, from the untapped potential of the likes of Sebastien Haller and Gianluca Scamacca to the downright useless in Simone Zaza, fans are still waiting for that one striker to arrive and hit the ground running in claret and blue.
There was hope that man was Niclas Fullkrug when he signed from Borussia Dortmund last summer. The German had played in the Champions League final just a couple of months before and had just scored twice for his country at the European Championships in the summer.
But so far it’s been a complete disaster. An achilles injury has led to the 31-year-old being sidelined since the September international break and up to now there’s been no sign of a return date.
But we might be on the verge of finally seeing him back in claret and blue, if a report by Sky Sports’ Florian Plettenberg is to be believed. He said: “Niclas Fullkrug is continuining to work hard on his comeback for West Ham United.
“His achilles tendon injury is persistent, but he is expected to return to the pitch in the coming days and should be back in the squad after the international break.”
That might suggest that Monday night’s trip to Newcastle will come too soon for him to feature but if all goes well in his return to training, we might see him return to action for the visit of Arsenal on November 30th.
Indeed, that fixture may also prove to be too soon for him to feature but it appears the striker is finally edging closer to fitness.
His return will prove to be a huge boost to Julen Lopetegui‘s hopes of turning things around after a difficult start to life at the club. He will be desperate to have his big summer signing back involved to help.
After all, Fullkrug is a very good striker on his day. His form for Germany in the summer led to commentator Ally McCoist singing his praises by saying: “I’m a fan of Niclas Fullkrug.
“Nothing wrong with an old-fashioned centre forward that can play.
“Every time I’ve seen Fullkrug, he’s impressed me. His game knowledge is good, his touch is excellent, he can finish, he’s aggressive… I think he’s a good player.”
And it’s aggression and the ability to finish that Lopetegui and West Ham desire the most right now.
Lopetegui is clearly running out of ideas and needs something fresh in an attempt to turn things around at the club, otherwise he won’t be manager of the club for too much longer.
