West Ham United want to appoint Bayer Leverkusen chief Tim Steitden as director of football

By Daniel Feliciano

20th May, 2023 | 8:10am

West Ham United are pushing ahead with plans to hire a director of football for next season with Tim Steitden among the contenders for the job, according to the Daily Mail.

The Hammers are looking to restructure their recruitment department after being disappointed by the results of their £170m spend last summer that saw them bring in eight players including Gianluca Scamacca and Lucas Paqueta.

The club have been linked with the likes of Brentford’s Lee Dykes and Roma’s Tiago Pinto for the role, but now a new name has emerged as a candidate.

“The club are pushing ahead with their plan to appoint a director of football with former Bayer Leverkusen chief Tim Steidten among the contenders,” they wrote (19 May).

“The new appointment will work alongside sporting director Mark Noble. The planned restructuring could have an impact on Moyes’ future.”

Progress

West Ham are clearly making a lot of progress in their plan to appoint a new director of football for this summer with new names emerging constantly.

Ex-Leeds chief Victor Orta has also been linked, which means the club are more than happy to bring someone in who is out of work or currently in a job elsewhere if they believe that they’re the right candidate for the role.

It’s a really sensible decision from the board to take the power away from the manager in the transfer market if they’re unhappy with the way money is being spent, especially considering David Moyes’ future is far from guaranteed too.

With the end of the season nigh and our Premier League status secured for another season, we now know that we have a chance to be in the Europa League once again too if we win our cup final.

That should give whoever comes in extra money to work with in the transfer market, while also allowing the club to attract a higher calibre of player.