Tim Steidten will regret transfer decision at West Ham United after news today
Tim Steidten will regret not signing Joel Matip for West Ham United after the defender announced his retirement from football.
The Athletic reported the news on Saturday 12 October, with the centre-back calling time on his playing career aged 33.
Matip reportedly favoured remaining in England following his release by Liverpool and West Ham emerged as front runners for his signature [Ruhr 24] but a move failed to materialise.
Stediten has seemingly failed to learn his lesson after missing out on a move for Mats Hummels and the Hammers chief will be kicking himself for allowing another target to slip through his fingers.
West Ham United should have signed Joel Matip
While the case can be argued it doesn’t matter whether or not West Ham pursued Matip as he announced his retirement, he wanted to remain in the Premier League and since no move materialised he has decided to hang up his boots.
Lopetegui has only three senior centre-back options Max Kilman, Jean Clair-Todibo, and Konstantinos Mavropanos to call upon in East London and, once again the club has missed an opportunity to address a glaring problem.
Given the influx of talent who arrived at the Hammers this summer, to leave the side thin in such an important position can only be described as negligence on Steidten’s behalf.
A Premier League and Champions League winner was available for a free transfer and, despite being on the wrong side of 30, Matip would have brought a trophy-winning pedigree to the Irons and could have been a role model in the dressing room.
Steidten put his fingers in too many pies, first with Hummels, then with Oumar Solet, and now with Matip and he has ended up with all three of his main targets confirming their future away from East London.
Should West Ham sustain a long-term injury to one of their central defenders, it would be disastrous and for Steidten’s sake, fingers crossed all three remain fit until January at the very least.
In other West Ham news, Czech media makes an ‘important’ admission on Hammers ace Tomas Soucek.
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