Niclas Füllkrug admits his move to West Ham was purely one of status and money. In a new interview with Bild am Sonntag, the German international admitted outright that his move to West Ham was a mistake, telling the paper that, looking back, it simply “wasn't a success story” in England. It's the kind of candor that's rare from a player still technically tied to a club, but it leaves West Ham facing an awkward reality they can't easily resolve.
“It was about the opportunity and appreciation,” Füllkrug told the media outlet. “Being offered a long-term four-year contract at the age of 31.” Füllkrug, now on loan at Bundesliga side Werder Bremen, also said, “At the time the circumstances strongly favored making the move rather than staying even though I had a fantastic year in Dortmund.”
Füllkrug isn't the first person in his camp to say this. Back in November, his agent Thorsten Wirth made a similar comment on a podcast, conceding bluntly that the transfer simply didn't work and there was no point sugarcoating it. Wirth's read on why is worth noting: he described Füllkrug as, on paper, almost the perfect profile for the Premier League, a physical, aerially dominant penalty-box striker, but pointed to a brutal run of injuries that never let him build momentum or prove it. Hearing the player himself now echo that assessment publicly removes any ambiguity about how West Ham's record signing genuinely feels about his time in England.
"The training, the matches, the recovery and even the medical care are completely different from Germany. I could never have imagined just how significant those differences would be."Niclas Füllkrug
Füllkrug went one step further and admitted the league wasn’t right for him. “I think it makes a difference whether you move to the Premier League at 22 and have to adapt to the intensity and physicality, and whether you do it at 31,” he said. “The training, the matches, the recovery, and even the medical care are completely different from Germany. I could never have imagined just how significant those differences would be.”
The numbers back up the sentiment. West Ham paid Borussia Dortmund roughly £27 million for Füllkrug in the summer of 2024, bringing in a player fresh off a strong Bundesliga scoring record and a Champions League final appearance with Dortmund. He managed just three goals in 29 appearances across all competitions during his time at the London Stadium, with recurring injuries repeatedly derailing any rhythm. A loan to AC Milan last season was supposed to offer a reset; instead, he added just a single goal in 20 appearances there. It's become one of the more widely acknowledged failed signings of the Sullivan-Kretinsky ownership era, and even West Ham's own recruitment staff have privately conceded as much in the past.
The Contract Problem
Füllkrug also stated that his current loan move has felt like coming home, saying nothing better than Werder could have happened to him, but that loan only runs through the end of June 2027. His actual West Ham contract runs a full year longer, to June 2028. In other words, even if this season in Bremen goes well for the player and club alike, West Ham could still find themselves with Füllkrug back on the books with a year left to run, and no obvious pathway into Nuno Espírito Santo's plans.
The good news is Füllkrug has started in all three of Werder Bremen’s competitions this season and has scored goals in two of them. If he continues to play at a high rate, there’s a chance the German squad would make the move permanent, but the comments take away any of West Ham’s leverage. At this point, any German side knows West Ham would make any deal just to get them off their books, and now a player who's told the German press directly that the move never should have happened only complicates their position to find him a permanent move away.
There's something refreshing about a player being this honest rather than mouthing platitudes about a "learning experience," and it's hard not to blame him for the situation. He agreed to a deal solely on money. He claims he didn’t know how difficult it would be. One call to any of the players who have made the move to the Premier League would have solved that issue. From all the reports about his time at West Ham, coming back from injury, it always felt that Fullkrug never wanted to put the work in. There were reports that he immediately felt homesick within a couple of months of joining the Hammers. He was never fully committed to the club, and it showed on the pitch.
Just to get him away from the squad, Füllkrug agreed to take a pay cut, suggesting there isn't a rush of suitors willing to pay a transfer fee for a 33-year-old with an extensive injury history and a public admission that his last move abroad failed. For his sake and West Ham’s, he will need to have the best season of his career in order for this failed experiment to end.
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