A calf injury picked up on international duty back in September was originally expected to only keep the German sidelined for a couple of weeks, but he’s still injured and isn’t expected to be fit in time to feature before the next international break in November.
It has been a monumental frustration given the hype and excitement surrounding West Ham’s summer transfer business and the hope that the former Borussia Dortmund striker would be the man to finally end the club’s very well documented striker curse.
But it just hasn’t worked and Julen Lopetegui is the latest West Ham manager who has been left to rely on Michail Antonio to lead the line.
It was reported earlier this week that Fullkrug has now returned to Germany for additional treatment, and weirdly it has been taken out of context that this is a major issue that points towards terrible club facilities.
I mean, West Ham’s Rush Green training ground is simply unacceptable in terms of quality for a Premier League club, especially when you look at training hubs recently built by the likes of Tottenham and Leicester.
But blaming the training ground on a player seeking expert injury treatment overseas is simply a cheap and lazy way of aiming another dig at the club without any real knowledge or substance of the situation.
While it is accepted that Rush Green is no where near Premier League standard, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that it is the reason Fullkrug is injured, or is struggling to return to full fitness. The last time I checked, he was injured during training with Germany. Unless Germany were training at Rush Green, there is nothing to see here.
This piece here is one of the key protagonists in this discussion surrounding Rush Green. It raises some well accepted points surrounding much needed investment in the training facilities, but also makes some pretty loose links between Fullkrug, the training ground and the decision to go back to Germany for further treatment.
Firstly, players seeking additional treatment overseas is nothing knew. It happens quite often and is almost always related to said players seeking specialist help that may not be available in England, or it’s with an injury specialist they’ve used before and would therefore be more familiar with their injury/body, or it could be that the player is sidelined for a long time and would rather be closer to more familiar surroundings, such as their actual home.Secondly, this particular piece ends with a statement that suggests unless investment into a new training ground happens, the club will continue to “be left behind” and will be “continually frustrated by injuries.” It’s complete nonsense.
The last West Ham player to be injured during West Ham training was Michail Antonio back in January 2024, when he was already injured and suffered a setback in his recovery. The last player before that? Some research suggests we may have to go all the way back to when Manuel Pellegrini was our manager, but I can’t be 100% certain.
But the reality is, training ground injuries are not a common thing at West Ham regardless of how state-of-the-art or not Rush Green is.
And to say West Ham be “continuously frustrated by injuries” is so factually incorrect it’s laughable. West Ham players missed a combined total of 64 games through injury last season, which was the fewest in the Premier League. Newcastle players missed the most with 245. Only five teams had fewer injuries that led to a player missing at least one game than West Ham (26). Man United had the most with 45.
That means that on average, an injured Hammers player last season missed just 2.46 games. Not exactly a severe injury crisis, is it?
There’s all the evidence you need for the notion that West Ham are “continually frustrated by injuries” is completely false.
On top of that, West Ham are currently joint bottom of the injury table with Aston Villa and Chelsea for players who are currently injured. Indeed, having your brand new striker injured for a few months is frustrating, but it’s not like the club is crippled with injury problems and it’s all because of Rush Green.
And lastly, the piece in question suggests the state of Rush Green will put off big players signing for the club. Again, I question that statement because if it does put players off, how on earth did we manage to sign Lucas Paqueta or Mohammed Kudus?
So in summary, while our training ground definitely needs a lot of investment to bring it up to Premier League standard, blaming it for a player getting injured while on international duty is simply lazy, sensationalist and quite simply ridiculous.
It’s just another excuse to take aim at the club during a period when everyone is frustrated with what’s happening on the pitch.
Who will fans blame if we lose to Man United on Sunday? I’ll be blaming it on the fact I had to walk 15 minutes between Stratford station and the ground.