Adrian Clarke analyses the key summer signings and the impact they could make at their new clubs in the Premier League this season.
Player analysis - Niclas Fullkrug and Crysencio Summerville (West Ham)
West Ham United’s forward line has been regenerated ahead of the new campaign, thanks to a pair of tremendously exciting signings.
Left-winger Summerville, the 2023/24 Championship Player of the Season, arrives on the back of 20 goals and nine assists for Leeds United last season.
Joining him at London Stadium is one of European football’s most- improved centre-forwards.
Fullkrug’s purchase from Borussia Dortmund feels like a real coup for the Hammers, in light of his stellar displays in last season’s UEFA Champions League and for Germany at UEFA EURO 2024.
What are Fullkrug’s strengths?
The 31-year-old’s physicality and astute spatial awareness make him a nightmare to try and contain inside the box.
He scored all 12 of his Bundesliga goals within that domain last season, with 24 of his 58 shots coming from headed efforts.
No one at West Ham attempted as many headed shots last campaign.
Fullkrug is at his most dangerous when occupying positions in the middle of the area, and he stays between the width of the goalposts as much as possible.
Once there, he makes wise runs and isolates his markers very cleverly.
This shot map produced by Sky Sports from his spell at Borussia Dortmund last season outlines where he is at his most threatening.
Similar to Giroud
The Premier League player that Fullkrug most reminds me of is former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud.
West Ham's new signing is subtle at key moments and just as unselfish as the Frenchman. He will chip in with several assists as well as goals in 2024/25.
He scored three times and set up another three in the Champions League last season, while 40 per cent of Fullkrug's direct goal contributions in domestic action were assists.
His new team-mates will be coached to make runs around him, and the addition of World Cup winner and defensive midfielder Guido Rodriguez will help with dictating the play.
Fullkrug last three seasons
| Season | Club | Goals | Assists | Combined total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | Werder Bremen | 19 | 6 | 25 |
| 2022/23 | Werder Bremen | 16 | 5 | 21 |
| 2023/24 | Borussia Dortmund | 12 | 8 | 20 |
Fullkrug’s regular output across the last three seasons for Werder Bremen and then Dortmund, as shown above, should whet the appetite for what is to come.
The only Hammers player to reach a combined total of 20 league goals and assists in one season during the same period is Jarrod Bowen, who delivered 22 in both 2021/22 and 2023/24.
If West Ham can develop a more attacking style and play to his strengths by putting balls into the box, Fullkrug should be a big hit with supporters.
Will Fullkrug suit West Ham’s style?
It may not have worked out in east London for respected target men Sebastien Haller or Gianluca Scamacca, but Fullkrug should benefit from playing for a more attacking manager in Julen Lopetegui.
Last season West Ham sat deep and played on the counter, with only two sides having fewer touches in the opposition box than their average of 21 per match.
Their new head coach will be intent on instilling a more front-footed approach than his predecessor David Moyes, a shift that should aid their new striker.
Signing an older player with limited movement may not sound too progressive in a tactical sense, but in the short-term Fullkrug has the tools to bring the best out of fellow attackers Bowen, Summerville and Mohammed Kudus.
Rather than crowding their space down the channels, he will stay central as a fulcrum, as you can see here in his heat map for Dortmund in the Bundesliga last season.
*Image: Sky Sports
Fullkrug’s hold-up play, flick-ons and knockdowns will suit the players around him, who are all willing to make dynamic supporting runs.
He can be the platform that allows them all to shine, while also contributing goals of his own.
What type of player is Summerville?
The 22-year-old Dutchman is a livewire threat down the left flank who loves to deliver goals and assists from runs with the ball at his feet.
Summerville is a fun player to watch as he is excellent in 1v1s and is always looking to use his speed to surge in behind defenders.
No individual produced a greater number of chance-creating ball carries than his 100 in last season’s Championship, and he scored from nine of his own carries.
Summerville's creativity in Championship 2023/24
| Chance-creating carries | Goal or assist-ending carries | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Crysencio Summerville | 100 | Crysencio Summerville | 12 |
| Jack Clarke | 98 | Sammie Szmodics | 11 |
| Ilias Chair | 94 | Stephy Mavididi | 10 |
| Morgan Whittaker | 87 | Morgan Whittaker | 10 |
| Jaden Philogene | 83 | Georginio Rutter | 10 |
This shot map below from Summerville’s superb campaign with Leeds in 2023/24 shows how dangerous he is when driving in from the left.
He scored five penalties, but his forte is to curl right-footed shots into the far corner from a left-of-centre position, and this will give the Hammers a new dimension.
At times last season, Kudus was used on the left in a similar vein, but for much of the Hammers’ campaign they played Lucas Paqueta in that area.
The Brazilian’s style is to cut infield to create, but Summerville will offer more width and thrust down that side of the pitch.
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If Lopetegui goes with his favoured 4-2-3-1, this is how an attack-minded West Ham starting XI could look in 2024/25.
Easing the strain on Bowen
While Michail Antonio has been an outstanding servant to West Ham over the years, it is Bowen who has shouldered the chief responsibility in an attacking sense across the past three seasons.
The England international has delivered 34 Premier League goals and 21 assists during that period, which is way in excess of anybody else.
Kudus has potential to step up with more goals in his second year at the club, but Bowen will expect the introduction of natural goal-getters Summerville and Fullkrug to also ease the pressure he is under to be West Ham’s matchwinner.
Lopetegui has certainly signalled his intentions with the acquisitions of Summerville and Fullkrug. It will be a surprise if West Ham do not score more goals this season.