West Ham want one-goal striker to Niclas Fullkrug amid AC Milan transfer talks

West Ham are said to be considering a Premier League striker as they prepare to call it a day on one of their failed investments. The Hammers are in a desperate situation as they prepare for the festive fixtures, with the weekend’s defeat to Manchester City leaving them five points from safety, a gap that could grow to six points should Nottingham Forest draw or win on Monday night.

The Iron have had their bump under Nuno Espirito Santo, and it is now time for them to show they can show the same resiliency they showed during that bump after back-to-back defeats against two of the top three.

Meanwhile, Leeds United are showing good form, and Nottingham Forest look a very different outfit under Sean Dyche, while the East Midlands side also have the quality in their squad to pull away from the bottom three should they hit form.

It’s looking a little precarious for West Ham, who are in a battle for their Premier League status, especially as, if you look above Leeds and Forest, it’s a struggle to see who else could be pulled into the relegation race, with Fulham likely too good, and already on 20 points, while AFC Bournemouth and Tottenham are the next two and neither of those are going to find themselves in relegation trouble,

It’s going to be a case of West Ham needing to keep up amid a big improvement in the bottom half of the table compared to last season, and the January window is going to be crucial.

According to Sky Sports, the first domino to fall will be Niclas Fullkrug, who looks set to swap a Premier League relegation battle for a Serie A title charge. It’s clamed West Ham and AC Milan are close to agreeing terms on a loan deal that would see the German spend the rest of the season in Italy.

The report claims Milan will cover the whole salary but will not pay a loan fee. West Ham paid £27million for Fullkrug and despite him being over 30, now 32, they saw fit to give him a contract until 2028, though it’s tough to see him ever returning to the club, especially if the Iron do go down.

The signing has been a pretty disastrous one overall, with Fullkrug having missed 32 games through injury during his season-and-a-half at the club, which is more games than he has played (29).

West Ham circle replacement

Given their current situation, West Ham are not going to offload one of the few strikers they have without signing a replacement, and according to The Athletic, the Iron are circling Wolves striker Jorgen Strand Larsen.

Wolves already know they will be going down to the Championship, so it would be wise for them to maximise the value of players who are certain to leave in the summer in the more pricey January transfer market. The Midlands club have two points so far and are yet to win a game, already 16 points from safety and looking hard pressed to reach the lowest-ever Premier League points tally of 11.

Wolves signed Strand Larsen for around £23million from Celta Vigo, and they reportedly rejected offers of more than £50million from Newcastle United and others in the summer. Wolves are said to be asking for around £60million in January, which would represent a tremendous gamble from West Ham, given they too could be taking a player of that value down to the Championship if they don’t survive.

The Hammers would surely have to agree a fee lower than that to pull the trigger, and it is worth pointing out that the Norwegian striker has only scored once in the league this season, which should give any interested club grounds to pay a lower fee, not to mention Wolves hardly have a strong negotiating position given they would have to sell for a cheaper fee in the summer anyway.

Strand Larsen notably scored 14 times and provided four assists in the Premier League last season, so he is capable of better numbers than he has managed in an extremely poor Wolves side this season.

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