After just one Serie A goal, it hardly came as a surprise when West Ham United learned that AC Milan would not be signing Niclas Fullkrug permanently.
The Rossoneri sacked head coach Massimiliano Allegri, sporting director Igli Tare, CEO Giorgio Furlani and technical director Geoffrey Moncada after throwing away Champions League qualification on the final day of the league campaign.
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A January loan signing whose impact on Milan’s season was as fleeting as Alden Ehrenreich’s blink-and-you-miss-it Oppenheimer cameo, Niclas Fullkrug would become an unwitting posterboy for the club’s flawed transfer strategy and a record with centre-forwards so bad that it almost rivals that of West Ham United themselves.
So, inevitably, Fullkrug returns to the London Stadium, dragging his £90,000-a-week contract behind him.
Though the 33-year-old misfit is not the only high-earning forgotten man for whom West Ham will have to find a home.
West Ham United will be desperate to move Maxwel Cornet on
One suspects Maxwel Cornet, after only 112 minutes of Serie A football during an injury-ravaged stint with Genoa, might not be easy to shift.
While Fullkrug has two years left on his contract, Cornet’s runs until the summer of 2027.
From early-February to the end of May, the Ivory Coast international appeared on the pitch for a measly 12 minutes. Genoa’s eventual mid-table finish under Daniele de Rossi was most certainly despite Cornet’s presence in the squad, rather than because of him.
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At the turn of the year, Roma legend De Rossi predicted that Cornet would make a ‘huge contribution’ to Genoa’s survival battle.
In truth, you would probably have to go back to 2022 – when nine Premier League goals for Burnley earned him a £17 million move to West Ham – to find the last time Cornet was contributing at all. ‘Huge’ or otherwise.
The former Lyon winger reportedly earns £65,000-a-week at his parent club.
Add in Fullkrug’s reported £90,000-a-week, the Hammers are paying upwards of £150,000 every seven days to two ageing, injury-stricken attackers who clearly have absolutely no future at the London Stadium.
At least Fullkrug has Italian, Spanish and MLS interest. Drumming up suitors for Cornet – seven league starts in England and Italy since that £17 million transfer – looks like being a far tougher test.
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