This is crazy. Niclas Füllkrug, the newest signing at Milan, just got ripped off. He only arrived at AC Milan via loan from West Ham in early January, returned to his temporary hotel room after training Wednesday night and — safe smashed open — four super high-end watches taken. Estimated total loss? Approximately €500K or half a million euros. That’s some serious hurt, especially for someone still trying to find their footing in a foreign country and league.
According to Football Italia (drawing upon a report by La Repubblica) the thieves knew exactly what they wanted to take — extremely limited items from top manufacturers. Very focused burglary. Füllkrug called the police immediately and they came and went through all the motions collecting as many fingerprints, CCTV evidence, etc., as possible.
He has yet to light up Serie A. No goals, no assists this season — neither since arriving in Italy nor since he left West Ham. He is going through a tough period of adjustment. However, do not count him out: for Germany he has always been a dangerous man — 14 goals in only 24 caps. His finish will show itself to Milan fans; they simply have to wait and see.
Robberies of high profile football players in large European cities are far from unheard of. Milan, London, Paris — players with large incomes and highly visible lifestyles become easy prey for robbers. The Italian media already reminded us that this has happened to other foreign Serie A players previously. Clearly clubs need to create far better off-pitch security arrangements to protect its stars.
Niclas Füllkrug – skysports.com
Milan cannot currently afford any additional headaches, especially ones caused by something so avoidable. New signings are placed into nice hotels until they can sort out apartments, but apparently even that is not enough to prevent a break-in. There has been no official public statement from the club regarding this incident, however robberies such as this can quietly affect the confidence of the player, particularly if he is still finding his feet in a crowded fixture schedule.
Italian Insider Di Marzio correctly stated: “In recent years we’ve seen an alarming increase in crimes committed against football players. This is a red flag for clubs and the league — clubs must ensure that protecting their stars goes beyond the stadium gates. Clubs must make player safety a number one priority.”
At present, the police are still investigating, but Niclas must push the emotional response aside and focus on competing for playing time at Milan. Sometimes a kick in the stomach like this will spark the flame. Perhaps this robbery will provide the odd source of motivation that he needed to finally start clicking for AC Milan in red and black and win over the Curva Sud.
There are loads of major games being played across Europe at the moment. The English Premier League title race is becoming increasingly crazy every weekend, and the battle for survival down in the bottom three is also heating up. Great time to be watching football.
