West Ham head coach Julen Lopetegui has confirmed that Niclas Fullkrug will not be ready to play against Ipswich Town this weekend.
The £27m signing from Borussia Dortmund has been suffering with tendonitis in his Achilles and Lopetegui said in his pre-match press conference that the player is still not 100% fit:
“We would like Niclas to be fit now, but he’s having some little problems. They’re not massive, but we’ve lost him for a little while now, and hopefully, he’ll be ready after the international break.”
Fullkrug has not played for the Hammers since the problem flared up on international duty last month.
He started and scored in Germany’s 5-0 win over Hungary in the Nations League at the start of September but he did not feature in the 2-2 draw against the Netherlands a few days later.
Which games could Fullkrug return to play in?
There was some optimism that the 31-year-old could make the bench for the Ipswich fixture but Lopetegui has dashed those hopes.
West Ham’s subsequent games are against Tottenham (on October 19th) and Manchester United (on October 27th) so supporters will expect Fullkrug to feature in one or both of those matches.
The West Ham manager has no other players unavailable
While the Irons don’t have the most intense schedule (unlike some other teams) due to the fact they are not playing in Europe this season, it is surprising to see that they have not picked up that many injuries.
Edson Alvarez, who was suspended for the 1-1 draw against Brentford last weekend, will be back in contention, having served his one-match suspension after his red card versus Liverpool in the Carabao Cup. It means Lopetegui has a fully-fit first-team squad to choose from, with the exception of Fullkrug.
Find out who is in West Ham’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here