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Niclas Füllkrug: Journeyman Striker Ready To Win Hammers’ Hearts

September 18, 2024
Player Analysis, Transfer Analysis, Premier League Analysis

Niclas Füllkrug does not come from the same mould of German talisman of the past. Yet he has captivated fandoms by doing what he does best at club and international level – scoring goals.

 

The 31-year-old made the move to the Premier League this summer, as he joined West Ham United for a fee of £27.5million. The German striker has been a late bloomer who has only gained recognition in the last few years. His entire aura does not ‘pass the vibe check’, as young fans would say.

 

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He is a simplistic man and footballer by nature, but the one season sample size that he provided at Borussia Dortmund in 2023/24 leaves much room for West Ham fans to be excited.

 

Name: Niclas Füllkrug

Date of Birth: 9 February 1993

Place of Birth: Hanover, Germany

Country: Germany (22 caps / 14 goals)

 

Early Career & Development

 

Füllkrug began his career in Hanover. He started out in the district of Ricklingen, where fan-owned clubs such as Füllkrug’s old club were outlawed by the Nazis during the 1930s. Jumping out of that bubble, the German would spend his youth career with Werder Bremen from the age of 14. He would make his Bundesliga debut in 2011/12 against Bayer Leverkusen, playing 11 times (1 start, 10 substitute appearances) in his senior debut season.

 

 

He would join Greuther Fürth the following season, playing in 2. Bundesliga. He impressed there, before his season was generally curtailed by ligament damage – the first of its kind. A permanent move to FC Nürnberg followed, where he spent 2 seasons in the second division and scored 14 goals in his final season.

 

A move back home to Hannover 96 was next on the cards. During this 3-year spell, Füllkrug finally played regular Bundesliga football for the first time at the age of 23. This came at a cost because Füllkrug suffered another setback with a recurring left knee injury that had been bothering him for years.

 

A return to Werder Bremen followed in 2019/20, however an ACL injury ruined his first season back at the club. By the end of the second season, he had only played 27 league games – scoring 4 and 6 league goals across the two seasons. Recurring calf, ankle and knee injuries has disrupted his development massively at this point.

 

It was only in his third season that the striker had found a reset and fired Bremen back to the Bundesliga. The following season, a rejuvenated Füllkrug scored 16 league goals, earning him the joint top-scorer accolade alongside Christopher Nkunku.

 

Borussia Dortmund

 

Last summer, Borussia Dortmund announced the signing of Füllkrug as a beacon of hope to fire Black and Yellow to the Bundesliga title that they agonisingly lost on the final day of 2022/23. Factoring in Sebastien Haller’s return from cancer treatment, Dortmund needed goals.

 

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It was a far cry from exotic predecessors like Erling Haaland, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Robert Lewandowski. However, Füllkrug gave Terziç’s side the goals that they were craving as he rose above both Haller and Moukoko in the pecking order as the lone striker.

 

The Bundesliga season fell underwhelmingly flat; however Dortmund took their Yellow Wall all the way to the Champions League final against Real Madrid. From hindsight, we can only imagine how the game would have panned out if Füllkrug did not hit the post or Karim Adeyemi took this shot on earlier in the first half.

 

At the end of one brief season at Westfalenstadion, Füllkrug had accrued 15 goals and 10 assists in 43 appearances. There were some important goals along the way, including his hat-trick against VfL Bochum and his goals in both fixtures against an unbeaten Leverkusen side.

 

In the Champions League, his winning goal against Newcastle when Dortmund were rooted to the bottom of the group after 2 games gave the team some magical life. Goals against PSG and Atletico Madrid in the knockout stages coincided with the best period of his stint.

 

Terziç’s exit at the end of the season foretold the next chapter for the striker as well. At the end of the day, it was Terziç who was persistent in bringing the former Werder Bremen man to Dortmund even when the club were in dire need of depth in other areas of the pitch.

 

 

West Ham

 

Julian Lopetegui’s arrival at the Hammers called for a massive overhaul of talent. Max Kilman, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Crysencio Summerville and Luis Guilherme were just some of those who arrived as permanent transfers. The Spaniard’s side were lacking a starting striker. Michael Antonio has aged, and Danny Ings is no longer a realistic starting option for a Premier League side.

 

With someone like Antonio in mind, West Ham have often operated with a fluid forward as opposed to a more traditional striker. In the ‘West Ham way’, whether it has been David Moyes or someone else in charge in recent years, the traditional striker has not worked very well.

 

Think of Sebastien Haller and Gianluca Scamacca. Here are two strikers who can fulfill the role of a target man but never worked out in East London despite being quality strikers. With that in mind, Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran was a realistic and good option for the Hammers. The Villa forward even went as far as expressing his interest in playing at London Stadium on social media over the summer, but instead found himself on the scoresheet against West Ham in gameweek 1.

 

 

By that point, Lopetegui’s side had already swooped in for Nicolas Füllkrug, who was more than willing to move outside  from Germany (for the first time in his career) given that Dortmund’s new look side under Nuri Şahin had already made moves for Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy as their starting striker.

 

A plot twist indeed. West Ham fans will understandably be wary that their team opted to sign a target man. They should remind themselves that this is a Champions League finalist that has been added to their squad. Niclas Füllkrug has made it a hobby to prove fanbases wrong, and he will have to do it once more as he eases into life as a Premier League striker.

 

As the Hammers will gradually look to move away from Antonio starting in their 4-2-3-1 setup, Fullkrug’s influence in the team should grow. That will take a dose of patience from West Ham fans, but it may be worth the wait as Füllkrug wins more hearts over.

 

By Abdullah Mamaniyat / @mxmxnyt

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Nigel French – PA Images

 

 

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