As West Ham face being without Niclas Fullkrug for three months striker appears on game show

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For a brief moment West Ham fans thought they might be able to welcome Niclas Fullkrug back this weekend, but no such luck.

West Ham have already been without £23.5m summer signing Niclas Fullkrug for six weeks.

But the Hammers appeared to suggest the striker might be able to feature against Nottingham Forest this weekend.

In West Ham’s official preview for the game, the club stated Fullkrug would be assessed before a decision was made for Forest.

“Attacker Niclas Füllkrug continues to recover from the injury he sustained while away with Germany in September, and will likely be assessed once again,” West Ham stated.

The update left Hammers supporters bemused given what had been reported prior about Fullkrug’s injury lay-off.

Fullkrug has been out with a serious Achilles and calf issue similar to the one that has already kept a top NFL star out for three months and counting.

But Julen Lopetegui responded to that Fullkrug suggestion from West Ham’s own in-house media but killing any hopes.

West Ham face being without Fullkrug for three months

The Spaniard confirmed the West Ham forward is ‘definitely out’. Worse still there is still no timeframe on his return.

The earliest he could feature according to a journalist close to Fullkrug is Newcastle away at the end of November.

But even if the 31-year-old is back training ahead of that game, he will have to spend several weeks regaining his fitness and conditioning.

That is a necessity before a return to match action is even considered because West Ham cannot risk him suffering another setback.

Fullkrug’s extended lay-off has piled more pressure on Tim Steidten over his striker decisions in the summer window.

Especially after an admission from in-form Jhon Duran that a move to West Ham was on the cards.

As part of his recovery, Fullkrug has been back in Germany having injections and treatment.

That’s been seen as a pretty damning indictment of the facilities he has at his disposal in east London.

That’s not all he has been doing in his homeland, though.

As West Ham face being without Fullkrug for three months, the striker appears on German TV game show.

Hammers striker keeps up appearances on German game show

The Germany international is on ARD show Klein gegen Groß where children challenge famous adults in various ways.

On this show, 11-year-old Luis from Erlangen takes on West Ham star Fullkrug in “an exciting duel”.

One such duel saw Fullkrug and the youngster having to identify two players from a blended photo.

The Hammers star and his opponent also had to state the players’ nationalities as well as identify whether they are right or left-footed.

During the show, Fullkrug gives the young player a Germany shirt which his mum insists will be framed.

“He obviously won’t wear it,” she said.

“We bought a special frame for it, and we’ll add some printed photos as well. We just have to find a wall for it since Luis’s room is already filled with football memorabilia.”

Fullkrug has shared photos from the game show appearance on his Instagram.

It’s his first main post since declaring he’ll be ‘back soon’ for West Ham three weeks ago.

Fullkrug is of course perfectly entitled to a life outside of West Ham and football.

But it’s frustrating to see such a key signing in this situation.

It’s not so much galling as Fullkrug didn’t have to do anything physical on the show.

And the striker clearly isn’t physically able to play right now.

However, West Ham fans want to see him keeping up appearances on the pitch rather than on game shows.

The Hammers will just have to hope he can get himself back and up to speed for the second half of the season.

Or questions really will be asked of Steidten’s decision-making.