Tim Steidten admitted how excited he was at taking control of West Ham’s day to day running after the power struggle with David Moyes which saw Steidten banned from the dressing room. He has overseen the summer transfer window spend when ten players were brought into West Ham – regardless of which picks were his and which were Julen Lopetegui’s, (it is pretty obvious who chose which player!) – the system in place at London Stadium means the head coach reports to Steidten himself.
So the buck stops with him.
The awful signings of the summer – the vastly overpriced Niclas Fullkrug and unseen Luis Guilherme were ‘fanfare’ Steidten signings. Rodriguez and Soler were brought to the UK and sanctioned by Steidten after Lopetegui asked for them: All have proved monumental wastes of money.
Now we approach another transfer window and I’m worried: West Ham have a desperate need for younger faster and fitter players – our is still the second oldest squad in the Premier League after £140 million has been spent.
Has the message got through?
Steidten’s credibility and future at West Ham must be on the line after such calamitous £60 million (plus!) waste on overpriced or unproven talent. It is imperative that there are no more ‘has-beens’ from overseas leagues, no more slow, ponderous ageing midfielders.
Tim Steidten was described as a brilliant deal maker: Time for him to show the doubters at West Ham that he can deliver high quality recruits rather than mediocrity or a ‘fingers-crossed punt’.
You wouldn’t know it from the standards of some of our recruiting, but Moritz Steidten, Tim’s brother, is employed by West Ham United as ‘head of international scouting‘ for heavens sake: rumour has it that nobody even sees him at the club.
So, the results in January will be watched very carefully from inside and outside the club because the jury is still out. Time to deliver, Tim.
