West Ham United remain without Pablo Felipe, but at least the January signing’s calf injury is not quite as serious as the issue which keeps Franculino Dju on the sidelines at FC Midtjylland.
Danish title-chasers Midtjylland suffered a ‘catastrophic’ blow when their star striker was ruled out with a serious knee injury in December.
And while Nuno Espirito Santo is hopeful Pablo will return sooner rather than later following fitness problems of his own – West Ham United’s January signing is ‘improving day by day’, the head coach said last week – there is still no sign of Franculino Dju as the Super Liga outfit battle on without him.
How badly have we missed Pablo Felipe? 👀
Nuno wants him back ASAP 👇
Franculino Dju’s injury should be a big concern for West Ham United
Mike Tullberg, FC Midtjylland’s head coach, confirms to TV2 that the free-scoring Guinea Bissau international is not even close to making his return to the field.
If West Ham were planning to step up their interest in the event of Callum Wilson’s potential departure, this throws a spanner in the works at Rush Green too.
“No, he’s out for a long time,” Tullberg sighed. “Unfortunately for us, a really long time. We hope he’ll be back in the foreseeable future, but we know it won’t be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”
By his own admission, Taty Castellanos is missing Pablo’s all-action presence alongside him at the London Stadium.
The aforementioned Wilson touched the ball only ten times during a largely anonymous 60-minute outing in Wednesday’s Crysencio Summerville-inspired 1-0 win at Fulham, struggling to replicate Pablo’s impact in the second-striker spot.
Midtjylland, though, are certainly not letting Franculino’s absence derail their title bid. ‘Catastrophic’ on paper, seemingly galvanising on the field.
Tullberg’s side have won three of their last four league matches, scoring ten goals along the way. They remain only four points behind leaders AFG Aarhus. On current form, you would never believe that Midtjylland are limping along without the striker responsible for 21 goals across 30 starts in domestic and European football.
When was the last time a West Ham player excited you so much?! 😍
Franculino scores goals at a rate similar to Europe’s best
So prolific in the first half of the campaign, Franculino was rivalling Harry Kane and Erling Haaland at the top of the continental goal charts as recently as December.
West Ham had a £13 million bid rejected by Midtjylland in the summer, per Bold. An offer they might well have followed up until that knee injury necessitated a change of tack; Pablo and Castellanos joining instead to reinforce Nuno’s frontline.
With the aforementioned Wilson out of contract come July, though, there will be space at West Ham for another number nine.
Whether Franculino features on their summer shortlist next time around, though, surely rests heavily on how much longer Midtjylland have to make do without his oh-so potent poacher’s instincts.
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