Niclas Fullkrug: West Ham new striker is old-school with cult following (2024)

Published

5 August 2024

Niclas Fullkrug accepts the notion he is a late bloomer, but also likes to highlight how experience is more important to his game than youth.

The 31-year-old has joined West Ham from Borussia Dortmund for a fee of £27m, which includes potential add-ons.

Less than 12 months ago, Fullkrug joined Dortmund from Werder Bremen, where he had flourished in the previous two seasons.

While Fullkrug is a technically limited striker, he has found a way to be effective thanks to his stature and a good eye for goalscoring opportunities in the box.

At a time when pure number nines are rare, he has attracted many suitors throughout the past few years and was called up to the Germany national team for the first time before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Fullkrug was also part of Germany's recent Euro 2024 campaign, during which Julian Nagelsmann used him as a substitute for Kai Havertz during the second half of games.

While Havertz offered technical proficiency and engaged with the likes of Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan in passing plays, Fullkrug was sent on to be the target man for high crosses into the box in all of Germany's games.

Fullkrug has managed to attract a cult following in Germany - in part because he looks almost like a throwback to a time when broad-shouldered strikers were the norm.

When he came on during Germany's Euro 2024 quarter-final against Spain, the home crowd in Stuttgart frantically cheered, hoping he could bring down La Furia Roja, though he would eventually miss a big chance late in the game.

However, Fullkrug has proven he is able to score under the spotlight, as he did for Dortmund in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie with Paris St-Germain in May, paving the way for a final appearance at Wembley.

There, unfortunately for him, Fullkrug was fooled during the Real Madrid corner routine that led to Dani Carvajal's opening goal.

But though he might not always get the job done, fans tend to connect with Fullkrug easily, which - in part - stems from his down-to-earth personality.

He has earned the nickname 'Gap' because of his missing central incisor.

Other footballers would have replaced the tooth with an implant, but Fullkrug decided to carry the gap with a sense of carefreeness.

When he formed a partnership with fellow striker Marvin Ducksch for Werder Bremen, the duo dared to call themselves 'the ugly birds'.

Such little nuggets, coupled with the fact Fullkrug is a late bloomer who somehow became an internationally recognised striker, have helped his standing in Germany and beyond tremendously.

Fullkrug's rise to the top of the German Bundesliga seemed an impossibility during the first half of his career.

Having come out of Bremen's youth academy and played for Germany Under-20s, he did not manage to meet expectations for a long time - struggling to establish himself as a reliable goalscorer in the Bundesliga and even the second-tier Bundesliga II.

The Hanover native had spells in the second tier during which he scored one goal after another - he famously hit four for Greuther Furth at Erzgebirge Aue during a loan spell in 2013 - but would then also disappear from the scoreboard for weeks.

When he joined Hannover 96 in 2016, it appeared his career would ultimately fizzle out, as he primarily served as a substitute during his first season, which ended with Hannover being promoted to the Bundesliga.

Fascinatingly, during the subsequent year and now back in Germany's top flight, Fullkrug suddenly emerged as a fearsome force inside the box, which ultimately opened a route back for him to Bremen.

Fullkrug is convinced he has not yet hit his ceiling as a striker.

"It is a position where you get smarter with every situation you experience in the box, where you learn and develop a better feel for the next situation," he said in 2023.

"Extremely important are your finishing skills and the sense for your team-mates, to know your team-mates well, to know [when to go] for the near post, the far post, the short run, the deep run.

"And that's what reflects in my game, that from game to game I get into better situations and that my age helps me more than it hinders me."

West Ham will hope they can build on Fullkrug's growing maturity and self-confidence.

While he has moments when he squanders scoring chances, he has also shown a lot of composure at crucial times - such as during that Champions League match against PSG.

What West Ham and their fans should not expect is a technically or aesthetically pleasing striker.

But in Fullkrug, they have acquired not just an older player but also an old-school player.

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