His then team-mate Marko Arnautovic once nicknamed Niclas Fullkrug “Lucke” — German for gap — a humorous reference to his less than perfectly-grouped upper teeth but perhaps a somewhat counter-intuitive moniker for a centre-forward whose job it is to place round objects into rectangles.
In fact, the Werder Bremen forward has become so good at filling football’s essential void that he might soon be called upon to close the even bigger, “9”-shaped hole in the Nationalmannschaft’s attack.
“Lucke for Germany!”, Werder supporters were chanting on Saturday night.
Fullkrug scored two goals in a thrilling 5-1 win at home over Borussia Monchengladbach, and also assisted one. This brings his total to seven in eight league games so far this season. The increasing demand for Fullkrug’s inclusion is a result of the fact that no one in the Bundesliga has hit the net more frequently in the first week. World Cup squad.
The 29-year-old wouldn’t be drawn on his chances of making the cut for Qatar but TV pundit Lothar Matthaus was remarkably outspoken in pleading the case for him.
“If he plays the way he did against Monchengladbach, scores two goals, provides a dreamy assist, links up well, powerful up front, good in the air…. the national team are lacking someone like him,” the 1990 World Cup-winning captain said on Sunday.
Commentating on the Gladbach game the previous day, Matthaus also noted that Hansi Flick wasn’t “blind” and predicted that the national-team manager, who happens to be a close friend of his, would “see these performances and in the end take one of these strikers who comes with these attributes”.
