When West Ham signed Niclas Fullkrug much of the talk centred around his age and whether the Hammers were guilty of short-termism.
West Ham started the week in striking style by announcing the signing of German international forward Niclas Fullkrug.
The Hammers paid Borussia Dortmund £23m for the 31-year-old – with a possible further £3.5m in add-ons.
The fee has been widely – and incorrectly – reported as between £27-30m.
And that is one of the big reasons the move raised eyebrows among some fans and journalists.
That and the fact West Ham had switched their attentions from former prime target Jhon Duran to Fullkrug.
Some Hammers supporters were excited at the prospect of signing Villa’s 20-year-old Colombian.
Age concern over West Ham signing
Fullkrug turns 32 next season and some fans felt it was a short-sighted investment.
Technical director Tim Steidten has explained why West Ham chose Fullkrug over Duran.
Steidten made it clear he and Julen Lopetegui felt the team needed an experienced, powerful focal point to complement their host of talented, pacy but diminutive attackers.
Since signing Fullkrug has been saying all the right things.
The German has promised to bring his goalscoring exploits and workrate to east London.
But West Ham’s amazing Fullkrug bonus has gone totally under the radar.
West Ham’s amazing Fullkrug bonus goes under the radar
Since Mark Noble’s retirement, West Ham have been making it up as they go along for a penalty taker.
Noble had been one of the best in world football when it came to his penalty conversion rate.
Having someone ultra reliable to can stick the ball away from the spot can be worth as many as 10 goals a season.
Declan Rice, Jesse Lingard, Michail Antonio, Said Benrahma, Lucas Paqueta and James Ward-Prowse have all stepped up in Noble’s absence both before and since his retirement.
Benrahma of course scored one of the most important penalty kicks in West Ham’s history with that goal in the Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina.
But the Algerian was a bit-part player last season and has now departed for Lyon.
Ward-Prowse’s place in the starting XI is now in serious doubt next season.
One man who will be starting most games, though, is Fullkrug.
And there is seriously good news about his penalty taking exploits.
The unerring finisher has a phenomenal penalty conversion rate.
West Ham’s new number 11 Fullkrug has taken 29 penalties in his career.
Hammers have a Noble replacement
And he has scored 27 of them.
West Ham finally have a bona fide penalty taker in the starting XI again.
Better still Fullkrug’s teams have taken points from 21 of the 26 games in which he has scored a penalty – showing the importance of those conversions.
The last time Fullkrug missed a penalty was way back in 2017 – in a 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich.
This is a massive boost for the Hammers and it will be fascinating to see whether Fullkrug now assumes penalty taking duties.
Some West Ham fans may not be convinced but two top former strikers certainly are.
Ally McCoist and Darren Bent have been absolutely raving about West Ham’s new number one striker Fullkrug.
West Ham fans will have to wait a bit longer to see Fullkrug leading the line for them.
Lopetegui has elected not to start the German in West Ham’s final pre-season friendly of the summer.
But he is expected to come on in the second half.
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