West Ham United receive Dortmund counter-offer for Niclas Fullkrug transfer after late-night talks
West Ham have been sent a counter-offer from Borussia Dortmund over the proposed signing of Niclas Fullkrug, according to Patrick Berger.
The Sky Sports Germany journalist reported via X that the ball is now back in the Irons’ court after the Bundesliga side’s hierarchy conducted late-night discussions over the deal.
The Hammers are pushing to get a deal done for the German international after frustration in the pursuit of Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran.
Berger wrote that “in Bad Ragaz, Lars Ricken, Nuri Sahin and Sebastian Kehl sat together until late in the evening and discussed the situation surrounding Füllkrug”.
Dortmund want €30million “all-in” for the 31-year-old [£25.6m] and now talks are reportedly continuing.
Tim Steidten has work to do to land West Ham striker
With the signing of Crysencio Summerville imminent [Graham Smyth, 2 August] and positive news in the pursuit of Aaron Wan-Bissaka [Dharmesh Sheth, 31 July] and now a new midfielder in Guido Rodriguez [Sport Digitale, 2 August] the situation is certainly improving at the London Stadium.
But a new goal scorer appears to be of greater importance than any of those moves at this stage with just 34-year-old Michail Antonio and the previously-ineffective Danny Ings in the squad at present.
Duran, 20, was identified as the top target by Tim Steidten and Julen Lopetegui [The Athletic, 12 July] but it appears Villa are insisting on £40million [James Nursey, 22 July] or a deal will be impossible.
That is a big price for a player who is still fairly unproven, so even meeting Dortmund’s full asking price for Fullkrug would be much cheaper.
But he is over a decade older (31) so would have nothing like the resale value even if the move was a success.
At the same time there has to be an element of planning for an immediate impact as well as the future and Lopetegui is going to need goals from the striker position.
Fullkrug has not scored fewer than 15 goals in a season for the past three years with Dortmund and Werder Bremen so is the more proven option, but it doesn’t look like his club are going to make it straightforward to let him go.
In other West Ham news, the Irons have outbid all the other clubs in the race to sign a World Cup-winner.
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