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Sky Italia’s Pietro Nicolodi, who focuses on the Bundesliga, has weighed in on AC Milan’s signing of Niclas Füllkrug. As expected, it’s difficult to tell how this will turn out.
After quickly securing an agreement with West Ham, Milan were able to put Füllkrug on a plane from London to Milano earlier this week. The 32-year-old passed the medical tests, which could have been a hurdle, and will soon be announced by the club.
However, whether the German striker can be the reinforcement that Milan so desperately need remains to be seen. Interviewed by MilanNews, Sky Italia’s Bundesliga expert Pietro Nicolodi shared his thoughts on the signing, echoing some of the doubts that the fans have.
Do you think he could be the right man for Allegri’s Milan?
“It depends on how he’s doing, basically. Because that’s his problem, in the sense that a good portion of his career has been plagued by serious injuries, short breaks, and not feeling great.
“He’s actually so used to recovering from injuries that he has usually been good at recovering quickly, but he’s not getting any younger…”
What type of player is he?
“He’s a fighter, a team player. He knows how to keep the ball and he gets the team going. When you’re desperate, you send long balls forward and he keeps them alive.
“I have to say that he has also improved a lot from a technical standpoint. At the beginning, he was quite rough, but he has made significant progress.”
On the 2023-24 season with Dortmund…
“That Dortmund side reached the Champions League final but did poorly in the league. I remember Füllkrug in the Champions League matches, and he was crucial. Maybe he didn’t score, but he worked incredibly hard for the whole team. He fought. He was someone who truly gave it his all.
“I would say he’s a bit like Mandzukic in the sense that he’s someone who sacrifices himself, lays off the ball, makes runs, and fights. He’s also incredibly tough, a real helper in defence. Within his technical limitations, he’s a complete player who makes his presence felt. But he needs to stay healthy.”
Why do you think Milan signed Füllkrug?
“He’s a good player mentality-wise, which I think Milan are lacking up front, and he has qualities that other strikers don’t have. I have seen Gimenez play in many, many games, both in the Dutch league and in the Champions League.
“He has always seemed like a good player to me, but I don’t know what’s gotten into him since he joined Milan (laughs). Anyway, we will have to see how Füllkrug adapts.”
A pro and a con of Füllkrug…
“The pro is that he’s a team player, someone who is ready. Someone who generally also has a good conversion rate. He’s not Kane essentially, but he’s a goalscorer. The con is that he gets injured too often,” he concluded.
While Mandzukic was indeed a hard worker, he didn’t exactly have the best tenure at Milan, arriving in a similar situation (in January 2021). He scored zero goals for the Rossoneri despite eleven appearances, so the least Füllkrug can do is beat that record.
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