Julen Lopetegui drops Niclas Füllkrug injury update ahead of West Ham v Brentford
Julen Lopetegui is unsure whether West Ham striker Niclas Füllkrug will be available against Brentford.
The 58-year-old provided the injury update while speaking at his pre-match press conference on Thursday (26 September, via Roshane Thomas on X).
Lopetegui’s side will travel to the Gtech Community Stadium to take on Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday (28 September).
Füllkrug recently returned to first-team training after suffering an injury while away with Germany this month.
Niclas Füllkrug to miss out for West Ham United v Brentford?
Füllkrug has made a slow start to life at the London Stadium. However, that is only partly his fault, with this injury setback not making his transition to English football any easier.
The striker is yet to start a Premier League match for the Hammers, and it looks as if that wait might go on.
Lopetegui insisting that he isn’t sure of the German’s availability ahead of the weekend implies that even if the player does feature, it will most likely be off the bench.
It doesn’t sound like Füllkrug is ready to start. Therefore, Lopetegui will once again have to find a way to cope without the summer signing.
The West Ham boss is under immense pressure at the London Stadium after a poor start to life at the club, which wasn’t helped by the 5-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday (25 September).
Lopetegui is no doubt struggling. However, having key summer signings missing from his squad certainly isn’t helping.
In other West Ham news, Kevin Nolan has slammed one “poor” player at the club after what he did against Liverpool.
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