Niclas Fullkrug shares ‘catastrophic’ verdict in West Ham transfer admission

Niclas Fullkrug has opened up about his struggles at West Ham since joining from Borussia Dortmund during the summer.

The Hammers splashed £27million on the 31-year-old German striker [BBC Sport] but he has only managed to make six appearances after suffering an injury in September.

He has played just 45 minutes of football since the 3-1 defeat to Manchester City at the end of August, having picked up an Achilles injury, which continued to cause frustration in East London.

Speaking via the Copa TS podcast, transcribed by Bild [18 December], Fullkrug said: “I was injured for three months and haven’t even reached my top performance because I’ve only been in training for a week and a half.

“It then seemed that I was back at a good level relatively quickly because I came in and scored the goal. My Achilles tendon was inflamed and it was totally annoying.

I’ve had something like this before, it took six weeks, now it’s taken a little longer and this phase is catastrophic. You just want to play and you feel like you’re close, but then there’s another setback.”

Niclas Fullkrug ready for West Ham United comeback after injury blows

It is quite easy to forget that footballers are human too, just because of their increased wages and ability to make a living out of the sport they love.