Niclas Fullkrug can save West Ham future after pundit’s verdict
Since his arrival at West Ham in the summer, Niclas Fullkrug has failed to get going and finds himself out of favour under Julen Lopetegui.
The 31-year-old joined the Hammers with high expectations after scoring 16 goals in all competitions for Borussia Dortmund last season.
However, since returning from injury, his boss still hasn’t opted to use him in the side with him being subjected to the bench before coming on as a substitution in the 56th minute against Bournemouth.
As a result, the Hammers are reportedly in the market for a new striker to help fill the gap of Michail Antonio who will be out with injury going into the New Year.
This may not give Fullkrug much hope as he feels he is destined for a life on the sidelines at the London Stadium.
However, Chris Sutton is hoping to see the striker get his chance after backing him in the summer as he wrote in his BBC Sport predictions: “In his [Antonio’s] absence, Niclas Fullkrug might finally get his chance up front. In the summer, I picked him as being one to watch – but West Ham fans have barely seen him at all so far.”
Niclas Fullkrug can still make it work at West Ham
It’s fair to say that Fullkrug’s start to life in East London has been far from ideal and he will no doubt be feeling plenty of frustration that he hasn’t been able to show anywhere near the levels he displayed in the Bundesliga last season.
However, some of this has been out of his control too with an ankle injury keeping him sidelined for a large part of the campaign so far and with the Hammers struggling anyway, it hasn’t been easy to come into the side and have an impact.
Opportunities have been limited so far but as Lopetegui looks to try and save his job at the London Stadium, he may well find himself needing to use all the talent he has available to him which would mean giving the 31-year-old a decent chance in the first team.
With the January transfer window fast approaching, it will be now or never for the German to show he can reach a high level but he must use words like those from Sutton to spur him on in the coming weeks.
In other West Ham news, there has been a contract twist regarding the future of Guido Rodriguez.
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