West Ham United director of football Tim Steidten has shared his optimism over striker Niclas Füllkrug, believing he will be a hit in the Premier League.
He’s been speaking to Sport BILD today about his summer signing, with the newspaper also covering how his former club Werder Bremen have benefitted from the striker’s move to West Ham.
Füllkrug joined West Ham in a €27m deal at the beginning of this month, one of several big signings made by the Hammers for new manager Julen Lopetegui this summer.
He arrives with a growing reputation after impressing at Borussia Dortmund last season, scoring 15 goals and registering 10 assists in 43 games as they made it to the Champions League final.
It’s been made clear that Steidten was key to the deal for the forward, with him having retained an interest in Füllkrug after working alongside him at Werder Bremen for a time.
And he’s confident the deal will prove to be a smart one for the Hammers, backing the player to come good at the London Stadium.
“Niclas Füllkrug fits well into the Premier League,” he said.
“We were able to convince him of our project: We want to go to Europe, that’s very clear.
“He can be that, absolutely (a crowd favourite). This has nothing to do with his gap in his teeth. Niclas showed at Werder, in Dortmund and with the national team what a special guy he is. He pulls everyone along with his character.”
While he’s celebrating the deal for West Ham, Werder are also more than happy that the player has headed to the Premier League.
Through FIFA’s solidarity scheme they’ve pocketed around €800,000, covering previous agreements that had been made with Borussia Dortmund.
They had been due to pay certain amounts thanks to bonuses in the original deal with Dortmund, but their success last season had already seen €2.25m paid and the €800,000 from this deal has now taken them close to the €3.25m they were originally set to receive over his contract with the German side.
