Germany’s Fullkrug happy with growing demand for centre forwards

Fullkrug, who made his Germany debut at the age of 29 just before last year’s World Cup in Qatar, has quickly established himself as the first choice in attack with nine goals in his 11 internationals.

Dortmund’s German forward #14 Niclas Fuellkrug reacts to Dortmund’s German defender #25 Niklas Suele (L) during a training session. | Photo Credit: INA FASSBENDER/AFP

Germany’s Niclas Fullkrug is delighted that centre forwards are back in high demand and topping scorers lists in European leagues after a decade when coaches opted for ‘false nines’ in attack.

The Borussia Dortmund striker, who made his Germany debut at the age of 29 just before last year’s World Cup in Qatar, has quickly established himself as the first choice in attack with nine goals in his 11 internationals.

He is expected to lead the line at next year’s Euro 2024 on home soil.

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But for years players like Fullkrug, who play best inside the box, were overlooked in favour of a different kind of forward with a different set of skills.

“I can remember that time,” Fullkrug told a press conference on Tuesday. “It is not that I felt out of place. It was a case of supply and demand and at the time it was the trend to play with a fake nine, to play with highly skilled and smaller players.”

Until the arrival of Fullkrug in the national team in November 2022, Germany had not played with an out-and-out striker for almost a decade and ever since winning the World Cup in 2014 with Miroslav Klose becoming record all-time scorer.

“Now it has developed into the other direction which is no accident, and I am happy. I am not only happy about me but that world class players like Erling Haaland or Harry Kane are the reason kids are buying football shirts,” he added.

“Scoring goals is after all the best thing in football, at least for me.”

Manchester City’s Haaland leads the scoring in the Premier League while Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane has bagged a record-breaking 17 goals in his first 11 Bundesliga games.

Fullkrug has been reunited at the national team with his former Werder Bremen team mate and striker Marwin Duksch, another late bloomer who at 29 has received his first callup for the friendly internationals against Turkey on Saturday and Austria next week.

“It is important to always evaluate things according to performance,” said Duksch, who has five goals and three assists for Werder this season.

“In the past years I worked on my game. You say 29 but it is the perfect age because you can still develop as a player.”