Niclas Fullkrug just became West Ham's most intriguing player to watch | OneFootball

As the 2024/25 Premier League season draws to a close and the summer 2025 transfer window nears, West Ham are back in the age-old discussion of available striker transfer targets from the up-an-coming to the well-established.

Last summer, West Ham signed one of the more well-known names in European football, bringing in German national team and Borussia Dortmund starting No. 9 Niclas Fullkrug after he helped lead the Black and Yellows to a Champions League Final performance.

Considering West Ham paid 27 million pounds to Dortmund and gave the now 32-year-old a four-year contract, Fullkrug hasn't come anywhere near matching a return on his investment in his first season as a Hammer with just 3 starts and 10 total appearances in the Premier League.

Niclas Fullkrug showed promise against Wolves

Fullkrug didn't have an extensive injury upon his arrival at the London Stadium, so it's fair to say that the Bundesliga veteran has been dealt a bad hand in his inaugural campaign. After nearly three months out from his latest injury, during which he scored against Manchester City, Fullkrug finally took to the pitch again on April Fool's Day against Wolves.

He entered the match as a half-time substitute for Evan Ferguson, who turned in an abysmal performance. Fullkrug was, despite being more than a decade older, a proverbial breath of fresh air for the Hammers attack. West Ham had new life with Fullkrug as a commanding presence up top, and he played very well. With Jarrod Bowen delivering a rare stinker, Fullkrug was one of the only individual positives in the defeat.

There's a hope that if Fullkrug can just stay healthy, he can be an asset to West Ham. While West Ham probably still need to go for a young No. 9 both as a backup in the case of injury and as a future building block (Fullkrug, again, is 32), Fullkrug has the ability to be a part of the solution.

On paper, Fullkrug has the skill-set West Ham were looking for all along. He's big, he's strong, he can score from headers in the box, and he's a very well-rounded player who can make the wingers better. At Dortmund, Fullkrug had 8 assists in a single season, and he had 11 in two combined seasons with Werder Bremen when he first broke out as one of the better strikers in Europe.

Niclas Fullkrug already impressed for West Ham

It's easy to forget with all the time missed due to injury, but Fullkrug looked very good in that short span of time in the winter when he was healthy. First, he scored off the bench against Leicester City and turned in a positive all-around performane in 30 minutes off the bench against Bournemouth. Then as a starter, Fullkrug had a great game against Southampton and then was immense against Manchester City despite the team's putrid performance.

And that's another thing about Fullkrug. He's managed to deliver promising displays for West Ham in games in which the team were otherwise dismal, such as this last one against Wolves. No, Fullkrug didn't set the pitch ablaze, but he did the little things well, and he did those things after a lengthy time away from the field.

Fullkrug has a few important weeks coming up, and the most important thing for the German international is to stay healthy. Anyone who watched him at the Bundesliga or even at the European Championships last summer understands that he's a decent footballer. Fullkrug can help West Ham a lot more than their current striker options can, and if he can play like he did in Germany for West Ham before the season ends, he will be able to flip the narrative 180.