Tim Steidten fought tooth and nail to bring his fellow countryman Niclas Fullkrug to West Ham United back in the summer of 2024.
West Ham signed Fullkrug instead of Jhon Duran in the end, after Steidten convinced the board to part with close to £30 million for the experienced German.
Steidten raved about Fullkrug after the Hammers signed him from Borussia Dortmund 18 months ago.
However, it quickly became apparent that the Germany international was not suited to West Ham’s playing style, nor, in fact, to the Premier League in general.
Comment on where you now think West Ham will finish in the Premier League 👇
We are staying up 🎵
It was only a few months after he joined the Hammers when people inside the club started to realise he was a poor fit.
Even Steidten is believed to have given up on Fullkrug and tried to move him on from West Ham while he was still at the club
However, the former Hammers Director of Football has now come out with a truly baffling statement about Fullkrug.
West Ham fans will be stunned to hear Tim Steidten’s Niclas Fullkrug claim
Steidten played a key role in one of West Ham’s worst transfer windows in recent memory back in 2024.
The German and Julen Lopetegui worked together to bring in eight new players including the £100 million spent on Max Kilman, Luis Guilherme and Fullkrug.
That transfer window has seriously set the Hammers back as a football club.
Steidten is sticking by his decision to sign Fullkrug, though.
When speaking to German outlet DeichStube, Steidten was asked why he pushed so hard to bring Fullkrug to the London Stadium 18 months ago.
“We brought Füllkrug in back then because we saw him as exactly the kind of pivotal striker he was,” he said.
“He was someone who, in addition to his great athletic ability, was also a leader in the dressing room and possessed a great hunger for success. However, he was unlucky enough to get injured very early in the season.
“In the Premier League, due to the enormous intensity, it’s difficult to come back from an injury, as you hardly get any time to ease back into it.
“On top of that, there was a lot of turmoil at the club. There were managerial changes, and I also left.
“When trusted figures are gone, it doesn’t make it any easier for a player to perform consistently.
“Therefore, it was a combination of several factors that unfortunately led to things not working out for him and West Ham as everyone had hoped.“
Niclas Fullkrug was a truly awful signing for West Ham
It’s worth pointing out that Fullkrug was absolutely nowhere near being suited to Premier League football.
How much money do you think Mateus Fernandes is worth now?! 😍
An absolute baller
Steidten said Fullkrug had ‘great athletic ability’ but the German lacked any kind of pace and was incredibly injury prone.
It was painfully obvious to see very early on that the former Borussia Dortmund striker wasn’t going to work out at the London Stadium.
Fullkrug has, of course, now been shipped out of West Ham, having been sent to AC Milan on loan early in the January transfer window.
It’s highly unlikely that the German has any kind of future with the Hammers, and he will most likely leave the club on a permanent basis in the summer.
Behind closed doors, Steidten will surely admit that bringing Fullkrug to West Ham was the wrong decision from the start, even though he might not admit it.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
