Transfer windows wouldn’t be the same without the occasional slightly left-field report concerning [West Ham.](https://www.claretandhugh.info/west-ham-transfers-fullkrug-in-the-last-chance-saloon/) There have been a few. Some we ignore. Some we read and discard. Some we report on simply because they have credible sources and a whiff of ‘possibility’ about them. This one came across the Claret and Hugh PC screens this evening: Still unsure which of the above categories it fits in!
Italian sports outlet [dajeroma.it](https://www.dajeromatv.it/2025/08/21/calciomercato-ipotesi-scambio-con-il-west-ham-sancho-sempre-piu-vicino/) suggested that there was a plan afoot to involve West Ham’s **Niclas Fullkrug** and AC Roma’s striker **Artem Dovbyk** in a weird club swop that would entail Fullkrug going to Roma and Ukrainian Dovbyk heading to London Stadium.
As the Italian outlet wrote it – thanks to google: for the translation:
“ _in the last few hours Roma is reasoning with West Ham for an exchange that would involve Dovbyk and Füllkrug. The idea would be that of a loan exchange for which the precise formula has not yet been established.”_
Taking the leap of faith for a moment and _considering that it might be a true story,_ Dovbyk does indeed need a new start after being displaced by none other than former West Ham loanee Evan Ferguson who is rapidly rising in stature in Italy (no surprise there).
Quite why Niclas Fullkrug would want a loan away from West Ham where he is the top dog of the strikers at the ripe old age of 32 is unclear, unless his manager wanted him out. Leaving for Roma just to sit on the bench and kiss his international career goodbye seems a strange choice and on a scale of one to ten, on face value I’d rated this as a ‘two’ and virtually dismissed it: And then I reconsidered.
**_Because_ _here’s the thing:_** All depends on what was said, and who was involved, in _last week’s dressing room bust up at the Stadium of Light_. I did hear a rumour that ‘West Ham’s big F\*\*\*\*\*\* German’ was the main protagonist. Just a rumour, mind.
Remember also that Graham Potter decided Alvarez had to go, and a few months ago you’d never have thought that ‘El Machin’ would be pushed out on loan because his manager didn’t want him.
It would give this wacky ‘striker swop’ a veneer of plausibility and explain why Potter might want Fullkrug out of the door, wouldn’t it.
Makes you think.