**West Ham are currently in an unusually favourable position when it comes to strikers.**
Oftentimes in the 2020s, West Ham have relied on having one striker throughout a campaign, something that really hurt them when competing on multiple fronts.
For the longest time, Michail Antonio was the sole man leading the line for the Irons. Even when new strikers were brought in – like Sébastien Haller, Gianluca Scamacca and Danny Ings – the Jamaican international was often the only striker included in a matchday squad due to his competition getting injured or falling out of favour with management.
But now, Nuno Espírito Santo has three strikers he can pick from: Callum Wilson, Taty Castellanos and Pablo. All three offer something different. More importantly, all have been effective for the Hammers this season.
In fact, most West Ham fans have probably forgotten that their club still employs Niclas Füllkrug, who is currently on loan at AC Milan.
The German striker departed in January after failing to score this season, and he hasn’t fared much better in Italy. Füllkrug has only scored once in 16 appearances since his winter move, and it looks like Massimiliano Allegri has no interest in making his loan move permanent this summer.
As reported by Fabrizio Romano on X on Tuesday morning, Füllkrug is expected to leave Milan in June “without plans to activate the €5m buy option clause”.
Romano also commented on the 33-year-old’s future in East London, claiming that “Füllkrug would return to West Ham and then leave the club again”.
It’s not a surprise that things haven’t worked out for Füllkrug in Italy. The German is a skilled footballer and comes across as a very likeable character, but his lack of fitness and proneness to injury have hindered him over the last couple of seasons.
For a striker who was struggling in a poor Hammers side, the fact that he got a move to Milan was somewhat bizarre. But given the form of West Ham’s current attackers, there’s no way he would be the Irons’ starting striker, as he was at the beginning of this season.
Although unsurprising, the German’s West Ham career looks to be over. But given this recent report, his immediate future now appears very uncertain.
Perhaps a German side will come in for him in the summer, but given how long he has spent on the sidelines over the last eighteen months, Füllkrug can’t seriously be seen as an exciting attacking option for any top-flight side.
I hope things work out for him, and I hope that West Ham recoup some of the money they paid for him, but neither outcome looks guaranteed at the moment.