Niclas Fullkrug is renowned for his brutal honesty but his latest comments may have inadvertently cost one of his teammates a move to Liverpool and West Ham a big payday.
West Ham fans love Niclas Fullkrug but many might be questioning whether honesty is always the best policy after another exchange with the press.
Liverpool and West Ham sit at two very opposite ends of the transfer spectrum this summer.
Since 2022, the Hammers actually spent more on transfers than newly-crowned Premier League champions Liverpool.
One-time West Ham managerial target Arne Slot kept his powder almost completely dry when he succeeded Jurgen Klopp at Anfield last summer.
Federico Chiesa at £12m was Slot’s only signing.
West Ham left banking on super savers Liverpool
Meanwhile there was a revolving door of comings and goings at the London Stadium as West Ham underwent a 21-player squad overhaul.
Nine new signings arrived to the tune of £155m.
Now Liverpool are one of the best positioned clubs in all of Europe to go out and spend big.
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But the Hammers are pleading poverty and insist they are at their limit for PSR.
Liverpool have signed Jeremie Frimpong.
West Ham fans remember Frimpong as the man who impressed and devastated them in equal measure by knocking them out of the Europa League last year.
Photo by Vincent Mignott/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
Photo by Vincent Mignott/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
And Slot is looking to follow that up by bringing his former Bayer Leverkusen teammate Florian Wirtz to Liverpool too.
Leverkusen are demanding record money for the star who was snapped up by ex West Ham technical director Tim Steidten during his time at the BayArena.
The Wirtz transfer has dominated headlines since the transfer window officially opened at the weekend.
Now another player Steidten signed – this time during his spell in east London – looks like he has just ruined West Ham’s best laid plans.
Because Fullkrug may have inadvertently talked Liverpool out of a move for one of his West Ham teammates.
It is no exaggeration to say nearly all of Graham Potter’s hopes for West Ham’s most important window for years, rest on selling Liverpool target Mohammed Kudus for big money.
West Ham paid £38.5m to sign Kudus from Ajax two years ago, reportedly beating the likes of Liverpool at the time.
Fullkrug may have just made Slot’s mind up on Kudus move
Kudus has shown he is the best dribbler in Europe – by some distance statistically – and can be one of the top players in the Premier League on his day.
But his form, like most players at West Ham last season, has dropped off, leaving the club resigned to getting what they can for him.
It has improved of late, though, and Kudus ended the season with the kind of brilliant goal that became a hallmark of his debut campaign in east London.
Reds boss Slot went on record to state he is a huge fan of the Ghanaian attacker, who he knows well from their time in Holland.
Slot raved about Kudus after West Ham’s defeat at Anfield in April.
Liverpool’s players, including captain Virgil van Dijk, have also reportedly been urging their manager to sign Kudus since last summer.
Liverpool have been revealed as Kudus’ preferred destination when he leaves West Ham.
But he won’t be thanking his Hammers teammate Fullkrug.
Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Liverpool may go with the Flo and not Mo thanks to Fullkrug
Some West Ham fans have noted that Fullkrug has more interviews than goals during his injury-plagued first season in the Premier League.
His latest comments are typically honest.
But if Slot is listening then West Ham won’t be seeing any of Liverpool’s money this summer because the German has been talking up Wirtz for a move to Anfield.
Should that happen at the reported £126m fee being demanded, it would all but put paid to any chance of the Hammers offloading Kudus to Liverpool.
Especially as playing in Wirtz’s position off the left or central was going to be Kudus’ only hope of a starting spot given the Reds have Mohamed Salah on the right.
“First of all, nothing official has been decided yet and I do not know whether that will be the case,” Fullkrug said when asked about Wirtz’s Anfield links, as reported by Liverpool.com.
“That means you won’t get any new information from me! But of course I talk to Flo a lot and we’ve talked about it a bit. Basically, Flo is simply an outstanding player with special qualities.
“I think it doesn’t matter what league, as soon as you give Flo a meter too much it becomes dangerous and he can use these spaces very well. He is also very versatile and he can use these spaces with a dribble, with a pass or even with a finish because he is so flexible.
“No matter where he goes I think he would work very well and even if it was Liverpool then I am sure that he would definitely bring this team forward.”
Why on earth would Liverpool go for Kudus on reading that glowing reference.
The only hope West Ham have now is that the Wirtz deal fails to materialise.
Failing that there was some positive news when West Ham confirmed Liverpool aren’t the only club interested in Kudus.