NOT so very long ago West Ham United were struggling through a winter with ‘just’ Danny Ings as their fit and function striker. Antonio was injured – long term – and Niclas Fullkrug seemed permanently in the sickbay after his summer ’24 signing.
How things have changed: The revolution brought about by Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe has been radical in terms of playing style if not in terms of goals scored. Taty’s three goals is bettered by Callum Wilson who has notched five in a West Ham shirt and now has another year on his Hammers contract as a result.
The ‘striker glut’ is set to kick in during the summer, with the news that on-loan **Niclas Fullrkug** is unlikely to be kept on by AC Milan, who have an option to make his loan permanent.
Trouble is, one goal in thirteen appearances isn’t impressing anyone in Italy and Milan’s fan and journalist-led [social media](https://x.com/CoeurRossonero) sites are predicting a _thumbs down_ for the German at the end of the season:
_“Füllkrug 🇩🇪 heading for the exit_
_For the moment, Milan do not intend to exercise their option to buy Füllkrug (€5 million) from West Ham._
_The striker is therefore heading for a return at the end of the season. He still has a few matches to make his mark.”_
Truth be told, the German probably wants to return to east London about as much as West Ham want him back – so perhaps he can pull a trick or two out of his striker’s kitbag within the few matches that remain to convince Milan to keep him.
The alternative is to have another player returning who is unusable, unsellable and pretty much un-loanable at his salary rate. Next time someone mentions how well Tim Stediten did as technical director, don’t forget to mention the ‘F’ word. Fullkrug’s £26 million price tag and £90k a week looks – even as it did at the time back in the summer of 2024- like a huge – massive even – miscalculation by _someone_ at West Ham.
Sadly, just one of many transfers that have cost a fortune and delivered next to nothing except a whole lot of pain all round.