West Ham to deploy 'forgotten' £27m Miroslav Klose duplicate against Wolves

West Ham are set to deploy striker Niclas Fullkrug against Wolves on Tuesday night in a welcome injury boost for Graham Potter following the international break.

The former Borussia Dortmund man has become somewhat of a forgotten figure at the London Stadium this season due to a series of injuries. West Ham forked out £27 million to sign the 32-year-old for Julen Lopetegui last summer but the player has managed just nine Premier League appearances.

Fullkrug has now not played since Potter’s first match in charge of the London outfit, the FA Cup defeat to Aston Villa, when he limped off after just 15 minutes. The striker’s last top flight match was the 4-1 defeat to Manchester City, in which he did grab the consolation goal.

West Ham handed injury boost for Wolves

West Ham confirmed that Fullkrug would return to the matchday squad this week having recovered from the hamstring injury that has kept him on the treatment table for over two months. The club said that Fullkrug has ‘worked hard on a return to action’ and that he ‘will take his seat on the team coach to Wolverhampton’ for the Tuesday night match.

Potter said: “Fullkrug has been training with the group and will more than likely be in the squad. So we've just got to obviously build his minutes up in terms of what he's able to do. He hasn't played competitive football for a while and he's had a fairly significant injury, but he's training well and he's building his fitness up, so he'll be in the squad.

“You can do all the rehab in the world and you can train as well, but you can't beat and you can't almost replicate Premier League competitive minutes, so that's the next stage for him. But whatever role we can give him, he'll do it as best as he can, and then it's good to have him back in the squad.

“He's got unique qualities and as a Head Coach you want as many good players available as possible. So he's done well to work himself back with real good support from the medical team here and now we've got nine games to go at the end of the season, two months to really push and to get as many points as we can, that's the ambition, and I think he can help us with that.”

Niclas Fullkrug likened to Miroslav Klose for Germany

Arriving for such a big fee, Fullkrug has underwhelmed this season for West Ham supporters but the player did arrive at the London Stadium with some fanfare. The striker had scored 16 goals in all competitions for Dortmund last season and also netted twice for Germany at Euro 2024.

Speaking ahead of Euro 2024 last summer, former Premier League striker Peter Crouch eulogised about the player and compared him to German football legend Miroslav Klose. He told TNT Sports: “I would have an outside bet at Fullkrug at Germany [for golden boot]. I feel like he could be one of the players like Miroslav Klose where he just gets goals in major tournaments.

“I love him. He’s had a good season … He’ll go into it full of confidence. Germany are kind of going underneath the radar. They’re the host nation and I think he could be the main man. He’s maybe not as sexy a name as the [Kylian] Mbappes, Crisitiano Ronaldos and Harry Kanes, but I think he could go under the radar and get a good few goals.”

In other news, West Ham should be making a ‘no brainer’ swoop for this Premier League free agent come the end of the season.