West Ham and Everton have now received a boost in their respective pursuits of Werder Bremen striker Niclas Füllkrug.
What’s the story?
Well, both the Hammers and the Toffees are keen to sign the Germany international.
German news outlet BILD revealed earlier in March that West Ham are interested in Füllkrug amid doubts over Gianluca Scamacca.
Now – according to a fresh story from BILD – Everton are serious contenders to sign the Werder Bremen No.11 as the Bundesliga side face financial difficulty.
It is said that Werder Bremen need to raise some funds to deal with a €38m (£33m) debt, meaning player sales are likely to happen this summer.
Füllkrug is described as the “logical candidate” to be sold due to his status as the Bundesliga’s leading goalscorer, meaning he is the man most likely to bring in serious money for the German side this summer.
The 30-year-old has impressively scored 15 goals in 24 Bundesliga appearances this season.
West Ham seem more likely to sign Füllkrug than Everton
In our view, West Ham are in a better position than Everton to sign Füllkrug this summer.
The Toffees have recently been referred to an independent panel by the Premier League for an alleged breach of financial rules, after recording losses of £371.8m across the past three years – as detailed by the Guardian.
Premier League sides are only allowed to lose a maximum of £105m in that timeframe.
Therefore, Everton will probably find themselves in a similar situation to Werder Bremen this summer where the focus will be on sales rather than signings, as the books at Goodison Park must be balanced.
In contrast, West Ham do not find themselves in a situation like this, so you would imagine that the east Londoners are in pole position to take advantage of Füllkrug’s availability this summer.
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