West Ham United disappointed at Niclas Fullkrug development as frustration grows

Dan Bardell believes West Ham will be frustrated after Niclas Fullkrug picked up an injury while on international duty.

The German star suffered an Achilles injury in training for his country with Julen Lopetegui describing the situation as "a pity" [whufc.com].

It represents a setback in the 31-year-old's start to life at the London Stadium after featuring for just 63 Premier League minutes after signing for £27million from Borussia Dortmund [The Guardian].

Sky Sports and talkSPORT journalist Bardell has suggested that there will be frustration from all parties after a slow start to life with the Hammers.

Speaking exclusively to West Ham Zone, Bardell said: "It's been stop-start for him anyway, West Ham are looking to ease him in slowly.

"They'll be disappointed that he's gone away on international duty and got injured but it isn't the end of the world.

"It doesn't look to be a bad injury and at some point, he's going to come in and start. The frustration will be that he's had a slow start to the season anyway and cost a fair bit."

Niclas Fullkrug suffers injury after slow West Ham start

The former Dortmund star came in over the summer at the London Stadium with plenty of fanfare after a positive EUROs campaign.

So far this season, Lopetegui has appeared reluctant to throw the German in from the start with Michail Antonio starting all three Premier League games.

This has come as a surprise and has been met by frustration from Hammers fans who want to see their new signing featuring more regularly.

It now appears that they are going to have to wait longer to see Fullkrug start for the Irons after his latest injury setback.

Given that Antonio and Danny Ings are the only other striker options at the club, this will certainly come as a frustrating blow.

In other West Ham news, a replacement for a stalwart is already in the ranks amid the latest contract development.

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