It is not often an injury to a team’s star centre-forward has an upside but, in the case of the West Ham United-linked goalscoring sensation, this dark cloud may have a hint of a silver lining.
According to reports, AC Milan are closing in on signing Niclas Fullkrug in the opening days of the New Year.
Fabrizio Romano reports that Fullkrug has his heart set on Serie A despite offers from the Bundesliga. And though West Ham United are yet to give the deal the green light – they would obviously prefer to sell the injury-hit striker rather than loan him out without a purchase clause included – Milan’s interest is a step closer to getting a high-earning, low-returns player off the wage bill.
Though if the Hammers had hoped to bring in Franculino Dju as Fullkrug’s replacement next month, those plans now appear to have been scotched.
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Just last week, it appeared that Bayern Munich had left the door ajar for West Ham to accelerate their pursuit. German champions Bayern have ruled out any big-money winter signings.
Inspired by the electrifying emergence of teenager Lennart Karl, the Bavarians now plan to look within rather than pursue expensive outsiders.
So while West Ham would still have to increase their opening bid substantially – per Bold, FC Midtjylland reportedly rejected an offer of £13 million last summer and now value Franculino at £35 million – at least they were not going to be blown out the water by a bonafide European A-lister.
Now though, the chances of Franculino going anywhere, let alone West Ham, appear to have got a whole lot slimmer. The Guinea Bissau international underwent surgery on an as-yet unspecified injury this week. Tipsbladet report that he is likely to be out of action until the end of March.
‘Catastrophic’, says TV2 reporter Mads Junker. Not only for Midtjylland’s chances of retaining their Danish Superliga title, but also for West Ham’s hopes of signing a striker who had scored 21 goals in his first 30 matches of 2025/26.
“It’s catastrophic, and it’s close to season-defining in a negative sense,” Junker says. “There are cup semi-finals, and then there is more Europe on the horizon, so it is disastrous for FC Midtjylland.
“It is close to the worst player – along with [former Bournemouth and Napoli midfielder Phili] Billing – that the Midtjylland team will have to do without.”
Danish press say Franculino will now stay at FC Midtjylland until the summer
Sporting director Kristian Bach Bak did say that Midtjylland would have to be ‘stupid’ to sell Franculino in January. The good news, then, is that coach Mike Tullberg should have Franculino available to him during the run-in. Though whether Midtjylland are still in such a strong position domestically and on the continent by the end of March remains to be seen.
“Those prospects [of a January transfer] are being pushed forward to the summer because he won’t be leaving in January,” adds Junker. “It doesn’t make sense for a new employer to spend millions on a player who can’t play.
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“Mike Tullberg can at least be sure that he has Franculino available after Christmas. Then we’ll see what kind of condition he comes back in.”
“The damage will keep the incendiary attacker out for three to maybe four months,” adds Midtjylland reporter Dan Hirsch Sorensen.
“The question is what such an injury does to the price of FC Midtjylland’s golden goose. There has been talk for some time that he will become a record sale out of the Danish Superliga. It may still be that way.
“But the dream of around 40 million euros may be difficult to fulfil because, from now on, the price of Franculino will hardly increase. It may rather decrease, and FCM could therefore miss out on many millions.
“Now it has always been FC Midtjylland’s intention to keep Franculino in the January transfer window and only make a sale in the summer. One thing is almost 100 percent certain now. That is that Franculino is unlikely to be sold in the January transfer window, because few clubs buy an injured player.”
Coventry’s Haji Wright and Norwich’s Josh Sargent seem unlikely
In terms of other potential Fullkrug successors, West Ham are being linked with Josh Sargent of Norwich City and Coventry’s Haji Wright again. However, Hammers News have already confirmed that owner David Sullivan has serious reservations about signing players from England’s second tier, regardless of the success enjoyed by FA Cup winners Crystal Palace, for instance, when shopping in the Championship.
West Ham saw a bid for Marcos Leonardo rejected by Al-Hilal a couple of weeks ago. Links with another Saudi Arabian hotshot, Ivan Toney, continue to be played down.
The club would not comment, meanwhile, on suggestions that Union Saint-Gilloise powerhouse Promise ‘Baby Lukaku’ David has rejected a move to East London.
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