Tony Cottee hits out at Steidten recruitment record at West Ham live on talkSPORT
Tony Cottee has hit out at West Ham United for their recruitment under Tim Steidten.
The Hammers have had a hugely underwhelming Premier League campaign thus far and find themselves sitting 14th in the table after 10 games.
Hopes were high at the London Stadium after a big recruitment drive led by technical director Steidten in the summer but the mood has soured given the struggles under head coach Julen Lopetegui.
And former Hammers favourite Cottee conceded there have been a lot of transfer misses.
Speaking on talkSPORT (5 November), when asked by Jeff Stelling if there had been bad recruitment, Cottee said: “Yeah, absolutely Jeff and the man who’s done all that is Tim Steidten. And I know some of the signings have been good and I think they will be good, you know I think Kilman over the course of his West Ham career will be good.
“I think Wan-Bissaka’s a good signing if you get him to play in a role that’s his right position, I’m not sure pushing him on and getting him forward as a wing-back – he’s a right-back and you’ve got to play him in his best position.
“I think Summerville will be a good signing. But with regards the other seven Jeff you’re right, the recruitments not been good enough and that’s down to Tim Steidten. He was given Carte Blanche to go out and sign players.”
Julen Lopetegui could lose his job at West Ham and the recruitment has played a part
Reports surfaced earlier this week claiming that Julen Lopetegui is on the brink of facing the sack with Edin Terzic lined up as a potential successor.
Granted, it comes as little surprise with how poorly the Irons have fared so far this campaign but there has to be some sympathy for the Spaniard.
West Ham’s season has been littered with individual errors, the most recent of which saw Edson Alvarez sent off in the first half of their 3-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest.
Recruitment hasn’t aided Lopetegui either. The Niclas Fullkrug deal in particular has been nothing short of a disaster given the Germany international’s injury struggles.
It has been no secret that West Ham have needed a striker for several seasons now and it appears that the German isn’t going to be suitable for that role.
In the unlikely event that Lopetegui does keep his job, recruitment will need to improve and January could be crucial to their hopes of achieving some form of league success.
In other West Ham news, Chelsea and Newcastle scouted Rayan Cherki, who has been linked with the Hammers, last weekend in the Lille v Lyon clash on Saturday,
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