The fear was that, in pursuit of one of the continent’s hottest young strikers, West Ham United would have to go into battle against Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, not to mention a host of deep-pocketed Premier League clubs.
Now, this is not to say the Hammers can drop their spears, take off their armour, and simply stroll across a vacant battlefield to collect their prize.
There are still plenty of other clubs willing to spill blood in pursuit of Franculino Dju.
But with Bayern Munich laying down their arms – CEO Max Eberl has suddenly ruled out battling West Ham United for a potential £25 million Niclas Fullkrug replacement come January – one sizeable obstacle has now been removed from Nuno Espirito Santo’s path.
Why do you think Niclas Fullkrug failed?
Fullkrug is expected to join Wolfsburg in the New Year.
Guinea Bissau international Franculino, scorer of 21 goals in 30 games for Danish outfit FC Midtjylland this season, is one of the names that has appeared most frequently upon West Ham’s list of potential successors.
Now, Bayern Munich have put their interest on hold. Whether West Ham have a fighting chance at landing a striker reportedly on the radars of Liverpool, Barcelona, PSG and more remains to be seen, but at least the Premier League outfit can avoid being blown emphatically out the water by the German champions.
Bayern Munich back out of Franculino Dju race as West Ham United stick in
According to Danish publication Bold, West Ham and Bayern both made offers for Franculino before the summer window closed in September.
A few months on, Midtjylland are holding out for around £25 million. That would require the Hammers to pretty much double the opening £13 million bid they saw rejected when Franculino was beginning to accelerate his ascent as one of Europe’s greatest goalscoring prospects.
Now, Bayern have ruled out renewing their interest in January. This does not mean they can be removed from the running entirely, though.
Midtjylland have already stated that selling Franculino in January would be ‘stupid’, after all. A club determined to retain their Super Liga crown and build on a fine start to their Europa League campaign are determined to hang on until the summer, by which point Eberl and co may be ready to strike.
Then again, money talks. And if that £25 million price-tag is reached, all those good intentions may not stand up to scrutiny.
“There are currently no plans to bring in anyone,” Eberl told DAZN on the day Bayern beat Sporting Lisbon 3-1 in the Champions League.
“Our squad is incredibly homogeneous, incredibly exciting, and from our perspective, well-balanced both offensively and defensively. A new player can always bring unrest.”
While the teen sensation that is Lennart Karl dazzled yet again vs Sporting – he has now scored five goals in his last nine starts at the age of just 17 – Eberl insists that Bayern will continue to look inwards in pursuit of high-quality squad depth.
“Our transfers come from within [the youth system].”
Franculino would be another El Hadji Malick Diouf-style signing
Now, there are many West Ham fans who would like to see the Londoners do the same.
The Hammers faithful have clamoured for Callum Marshall to be given a run of games in the first-team. George Earthy is becoming impossible to ignore too – another goal for him in Tuesday’s 1-0 EFL Trophy victory over Colchester United – while Mohamadou Kante, Ezra Mayers and Freddie Potts have all made Premier League debuts this term.
On the other hand, winning the race for Franculino would prove that West Ham are serious about modernising their recruitment department. Moving away from so-called ‘sure things’ in favour of risky yet potentially high-reward acquisitions.
West Ham snapped up Malick Diouf before the big boys could stick their noses in. With Bayern happy to wait and see whether any of the strikers in their academy can emulate Lennart Karl, the Hammers may have the chance to repeat the trick with Franculino.
That is if anyone can convince Midtjylland to let him go, of course.
“If we win titles and perform well in Europe, then we will both achieve our dreams,” sporting director Kristian Bach Bak told Bold in November. “This is exactly the journey we want to take with our players. And considering the average age of the first team, it goes without saying that people are keeping an eye on what is happening in FCM.
“Franculino knows that his dream will be achieved if we achieve something big together this season.
“Football is football, so we shouldn’t talk about amounts and prices. The most important thing is trust and that the club and the player have the same plan.
“So, it’s 100 per cent the plan to keep the team together until the summer, because strategically it would be the stupidest thing to do if we sold out halfway through the season. It is also a plan that has been made with the players.”
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