Like many West Ham fans, I was excited about the prospect of appointing a director of football. For too long the Hammers recruitment process has appeared antiquated and lacking foresight. West Ham rarely unearth a hidden gem like Moises Caicedo and instead choose the ready made option. So I was hopeful that things would change with the appointment of Tim Steidten.
The German has a proven track record of finding young players, who develop and become top class footballers. With the funds from the Declan Rice sale being paid over the next 24 months, there has never been a more important time for West Ham to invest in the future.
So I was somewhat taken aback by yesterdays reports that David Moyes would be spending the Declan bounty. If that wasn’t enough, I was completely disturbed that Moyes priority signings may be James Ward Prowse and Harry Maguire.
I don’t have anything in particular against Maguire or Ward Prowse, but their signings are a massive contradiction. If the club are modernising and developing a new recruitment culture, why are we purchasing aging players on the decline? Perhaps at 28 years of age Ward Prowse is in his prime, but he wasn’t even the best midfielder at relegated Southampton last season.
We’ve seen this before at West Ham of course. Rio Ferdinand was a record transfer fee and the club wasted that money on Titi Camara and Rigobert Song.
Harry Maguire is 30 years old and comes with baggage. If West Ham are seriously considering purchasing a central defender, it should be one of the outstanding pedigree. I guarantee Steidten will have a list of players with excellent ability and enough potential to improve.
Tim Steidten and a position of impotence
But if David Moyes is just going to swat away Steidtens suggestions, then what’s the point? We’ve hired one of the brightest young minds in world football and immediately handcuffed him. It’s common knowledge Steidten left Leverkusen because he wanted more responsibility over transfers. Somehow he appears to have landed in a situation where he is unable to purchase players.
Just to labour the point . . . . we have hired a specialist to buy football players and not given him the authority to make a purchase. It’s preposterous.
If (and at this point it is an if) this is true then the club need to take a serious look at themselves. The promise to modernise is nothing more than a footballing virtue signal. If Steidten is unable to purchase players, then he’s merely here just for show. It’s a half backed attempt at modernisation made without the courage of conviction to fully transition.
I would even go as far as to argue that West Ham don’t need a scouting system to sign players like Maguire and Ward Prowse. They’re established footballers who are known to all because they’ve been around a while. Both players may well perform admirably at The London Stadium for a couple of years but by then we’ll have to spend again.
I’m concerned that it won’t take too many rejected recommendations from Tim Steidten before he asks. . . . “What’s the point?”
