Niclas Füllkrug wants to play for Germany at the 2026 World Cup and is switching clubs to make that happen. However, his debut will be a race against time.
Niclas Füllkrug would love to score the winning goal for his new team as early as Friday evening, January 2, at 8:45 p.m.—provided, of course, that he wins the bureaucratic battle first.
The Italian Serie A league announced the 32-year-old striker’s transfer from West Ham United to top Italian club AC Milan on its website, but a quick debut for the second-place team in Serie A will be a race against time. AC Milan is loaning Füllkrug until the end of the season and has an option to buy. The Milan club has since confirmed the deal as well.
The Milan club must submit the contract documents for the forward by 4 p.m. on Friday—then the 24-time German international will be allowed to travel to Sardinia with the rest of the team to secure, at least temporarily, the top spot in Serie A with a win against 11th-place Cagliari Calcio.
The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has also played an active role in facilitating this. Although the transfer window in Italy opens on January 2, a special exemption is required for the match so that Füllkrug can actually play immediately on the day of his official signing. The strict deadline, however, remains in place—otherwise, the center forward will have to wait another week for his debut.
Meeting this deadline is also very much in Milan’s interest, as they trail city rivals Inter by just one point in the standings. Ahead of the away match on the Mediterranean island, however, the club is plagued by injury concerns: Former Bundesliga players Christian Pulisic and Christopher Nkunku, who were responsible for all three goals in the last matchday, are injured—a major opportunity for Füllkrug, who hopes to use his move to Italy to return to the spotlight for the national team and the upcoming World Cup.
Niclas Füllkrug brought Borussia Dortmund around 27 million euros
BVB received 27 million euros for Füllkrug in the summer of 2024. Füllkrug’s career in Germany was marked by great promise, but also by numerous injuries. What he was capable of when fit was undisputed. But during his time in Bremen, Nuremberg, and Hannover, he was repeatedly sidelined.
He finally found consistency in the 2021/22 season, when he scored 19 goals and provided eight assists in 33 second-division matches for Werder. Füllkrug played a major role in the promotion and confirmed his form in the top flight: 28 matches, 16 goals, five assists. This caught the attention of Borussia Dortmund for the 2023/24 season, who bought “Lücke” for 17.25 million euros. And he delivered in a BVB jersey as well. 16 goals and ten assists in 46 competitive matches were his third strong performance in a row.
At West Ham, however, things didn’t go well at all. Füllkrug struggled with injuries and was never able to establish himself. The bottom line is that in just over a year and a half, he managed only 29 appearances, three goals, and two assists. Now he wants to seize his World Cup chances at AC Milan after all.