Operation? | The full pitcher injury scare that won’t go away

Any goal Jhon Duran scores for Aston Villa is bound to cause major embarrassment to West Ham United technical director Tim Steidten, who apparently had the brief opportunity to acquire Duran at an affordable price at the start of the summer. Duran “slipped through West Ham’s fingers” and the rest is history.

Instead, the Irons acquired 31-year-old Niclas Fullkrug, a German super reserve player from the Bundesliga who is known for scoring crucial goals from the bench but, it must be said, has a historically serious cruciate ligament injury and over a year out of action plus another 12 weeks with calf problems. To be fair, both were a long time ago, between 2018 and 2021.

After a total of sixty-three Premier League minutes, Fullkrug was injured on international duty with the German national team and has not been seen since. Rumors both in print and today in some videos I saw in the background suggested that Fullkrug’s injury was worse than the club had admitted and that he would need surgery. Maybe not until next year.

How embarrassing it would be for West Ham to still be reliant on Antonio’s thigh muscles even at Christmas, having signed Fullkrug for €27m plus add-ons on a four-year deal. We have decided to speak to our senior source at the club about the rumor that Nic Fullkrug needs surgery as we expect him to be destroyed.

The answer came back: “I haven’t heard anything about our players needing surgery, but anything is possible: last I heard…he’s expected to be on or near the bench for Spurs.”

Totally threw me off for a second. Was expecting me to just be told.”A lot of nonsense – he’s fine.” But we weren’t. I’m sure everyone at West Ham at and around the top knows exactly what the status is of one of their biggest assets, which has been unavailable for weeks: I bet they’ve spent ages putting together the formal request To prepare compensation from FIFA for Fullkrug’s salary, which is incredible in (pardon the pun) after 28 days of absence.

So “more and more curious”: Fullkrug himself posts Instagram pictures with the saying “I can’t wait to be back soon” But – the rumor that his injury is more serious and may even require surgery persists until we see him going full throttle, in club photos or in the club’s training video in preparation for Spurs.

I hope I’m wrong, nothing would be nicer than seeing Fullkrug line up against the Spurs. Keep an eye on the club’s hard training for Tottenham videos and galleries and see if you can spot Fullkrug. Let’s see what else we can find out in the meantime.