Werder Bremen are having to ‘weigh up’ the pros and cons of moving for West Ham United’s Niclas Füllkrug this summer, even if he is available on a free transfer.
BILD cover the 33-year-old today and explain how his former club won’t just jump in blindly to sign the striker this summer.
Werder weigh up West Ham flop
The newspaper explains that Werder Bremen have been discussing a move for Niclas Füllkrug since the January transfer window. It never happened at that point, as he joined AC Milan on loan, but now he’s a topic of conversation again.
Werder are looking for a prolific striker, a requirement that Füllkrug fulfils. But a transfer is not concrete at this moment in time.
While the West Ham striker is on the radar at Werder, he is not among the top contenders. For a start, it’s not clear what West Ham want for him.
His current deal runs until 2028 and there has been talk of a free transfer arrangement just to get his wages off of the books.
But Werder feel that is unlikely. And even if the Hammers did sanction that, Füllkrug would need to make significant financial sacrifices to make the move. Werder wouldn’t even be able to pay a third of his current package.
Positives and negatives
There’s also his ‘extensive injury history’ to consider. In a year and a half at West Ham, Füllkrug has missed 28 Premier League games. He was injury free at Milan, with 20 appearances, but offered ‘lacklustre’ numbers.
Signing him could be controversial, then, particularly following other failed risky transfers in recent years.
On the flip side, Werder do value his leadership qualities. They could be vital for a young Bremen squad next season. But the question is whether that positive outweighs the other negatives.
The German side now need to weigh up their options. Do they take the risk, or do they target someone else? That’s the question they need to answer in the coming weeks.
