West Ham United manager Julen Lopetegui is delighted with technical director Tim Steidten’s choice to target Borussia Dortmund striker Niclas Fullkrug this summer, according to reports.
The Hammers were originally linked with Aston Villa’s Colombian talent Jhon Duran and were even understood to have agreed personal terms with the 20-year-old.
However, it appears they’ve now walked away from the deal after being unwilling to meet Villa’s £40m valuation of the player.
Now, according to HITC, Steidten is ready to switch targets and is lining up a bid for Dortmund target man Fullkrug.
West Ham could face competition from Atletico Madrid for the 31-year-old, but Steidten has at least earned Lopetegui’s seal of approval, with HITC reporting that the Spaniard is ‘more than happy’ to work with the German striker.
Fullkrug is something of a late bloomer when it comes to top-flight football, with his first season notching double-figure goals coming in 2017/18 when he scored 14 times in 34 Bundesliga appearances for Hannover.
Counting the likes of Nurnburg and Greuther Furth among his former clubs, Fullkrug joined Dortmund from Werder Bremen last summer and scored 15 goals in 43 appearances across all competitions — helping Die Schwarzgelben finish fifth in the Bundesliga and reach the Champions League final.
Fullkrug boasts an incredible record at national team level, scoring 13 goals in 21 caps for Germany so far since making his debut in November 2022.
The striker has famously caught the eye of former Rangers and Scotland goalscorer Ally McCoist in the past as well, with the commentator waxing lyrical about the German on a number of occasions.
“One I’d like to see is Fullkrug. I have no doubt he would score goals in the top flight in England. I like him,” McCoist told talkSPORT of Fullkrug during Euro 2024.
“I don’t like using the term old-fashioned centre-forward. But he’s a proper centre-forward.
“He brings people into play, can go in behind, powerful, attacks things in the box. I think he’d be a tremendous signing for somebody.”
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