While all the spotlights are currently all focused on Harry Kane as the English international won the Ballon d'Or, it is Werder Bremen's Niclas Fullkrug who has pulled ahead at the top of the German Bundesliga scoring chart after notching his seventh and eighth goals of the campaign against Mainz on Saturday.
Following difficult spells with West Ham United in England and Italian giants AC Milan, the 33-year-old striker has sprung to life in his second spell at Werder Bremen and his impressive start to this campaign marks his best goal-scoring return in a season since 2023/24, when he netted 12 times for Dortmund.
His second penalty against Mainz put him level with German football legend Rudi Voller, the only other Bremen player in Bundesliga history to score eight times in the first seven games of a season, dating back to 1985/86.
Given his past success in the Hanseatic city, it's perhaps not such a big surprise that Fullkrug has rediscovered his goal instinct at Bremen. The talismanic striker ended the 2022/23 season at the top of the scoring leaderboard with 16 goals, as he was selected for Hansi Flick’s FIFA World Cup 2022 squad.
After making his Germany debut in a friendly against Oman shortly before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Fullkrug has since scored 14 goals in 24 appearances for his country, and speculation is now rife in Germany about whether Jurgen Klopp will recall him to the national team if he maintains his current form.
However, it wasn't long ago that Fullkrug's chances of getting back into the German national team weren't looking so bright, as his highly anticipated transfer to West Ham United in August 2024 ultimately failed to live up to the hype.
Despite arriving in the English capital with an outstanding resume after leading Borussia Dortmund to a UEFA Champions League final and claiming the Bundesliga Golden Boot, his East London stint failed to impress.
The striker's spell in England was heavily disrupted by consistent injuries and a struggle to fit into the team's tactics, resulting in just 3 goals in 29 total appearances for the Hammers. At West Ham, Fullkrug was often asked to do extensive, draining recovery runs over 50 meters, resulting in persistent hamstring, calf, and non-muscle physical setbacks.
In addition, he lacked the work rate on and off the ball to make the 4-2-3-1 system work and failed to record more than 8 touches in the opposition box across an 11-game Premier League start span.
Fullkrug stated himself that “England probably isn't made for me as a type of player or as an athlete either,” noting that he could not fully explain why his form never clicked in the Premier League. As a result of his failure to make a difference in London, he was loaned to AC Milan for the remainder of last season in January but also struggled to make an impact at the San Siro.
The primary reason Fullkrug struggled to produce at AC Milan was a severe lack of rhythm. He was treated almost exclusively as a late-game option to close out matches. In 20 appearances, he started only 3 times and was subbed on 17 times. He averaged just 33 minutes per game.
However, Bremen has given him the time and patience to excel in a tactical system where he thrives. Fullkrug's success at Bremen stems from a rare blend of elite aerial dominance, structural hold-up play, and exceptional positional awareness.
Standing at 6'2", he regularly wins around 2.97 aerial duels per 90 minutes. In Saturday's match against Mainz, he contested a massive 15 duels, winning roughly 58% of them.
As a penalty box specialist, he is averaging 3.43 shots per 90, with a high concentration of those efforts coming directly inside the 18-yard box, placing him among the top tiers in the league for raw positional awareness.
In addition, Fullkrug has significantly revitalised the team's aerial threat and dead-ball efficiency, as Werder have already scored five times from dead-ball situations this season, having waited until Matchday 25 for their first set-piece goal of the previous campaign.
Fullkrug will have another chance to impress when Bremen clash with another one of his previous clubs when Werder travel to Signal Iduna Park to do battle with Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup on Tuesday night.
Svend Bertil Frandsen has been Senior News Editor for Flashscore News in Denmark since September 2022. He previously worked for UEFA and FIFA and is a former tennis pro. He specialises in news around football, tennis, badminton and handball. You can also follow him on LinkedIn.
