Graham Potter will be pulling his hair out about Tim Steidten’s £52m splurge as West Ham’s financial plight becomes clear

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West Ham United boss Graham Potter will be absolutely furious with Tim Steidten behind closed doors.

Graham Potter was named as the new West Ham head coach around five weeks ago, and he brought his recruitment specialist sidekick Kyle Macaulay along with him to the London Stadium.

Not long after, Tim Steidten was sacked by West Ham, after he oversaw some disastrous moves in the summer transfer market.

Steidten broke his silence last week after losing his job at West Ham, and his message was surprisingly classly.

The 45-year-old’s Hammers tenure was troublesome throughout its entirety.

The appointment of Julen Lopetegui in the summer certainly didn’t help matters, after Steidten warned the Hammers owners against bringing Lopetegui to the London Stadium.

Then, when Potter replaced Lopetegui, the German’s access to internal systems was taken away.

Potter and Macaulay are now said to be eyeing a big squad revamp in the summer.

It will undoubtedly take a lot of work to repair the damage caused by the former Bayer Leverkusen talent-spotter.

Graham Potter will be furious about Tim Steidten’s £52m splurge

Potter has actually spoken quite highly of Steidten, and the Hammers head coach even suggested that he could still target players identified by the German.

I don’t believe that for a second if I’m being honest.

Steidten proved that he had no clue about what it takes to make it as a player in the Premier League.

Two of the signings that epitomised Steidten’s tenure were Niclas Fullkrug and Luis Guilherme.

The German and the Brazilian cost West Ham around £52 million in total – a complete and utter waste of money if you ask me.

What on earth was Steidten thinking signing Fullkrug for £27 million – a player who was 31 at the time, already injury prone and had no experience of playing Premier League football?

It must be said the signing of Guilherme was equally as bad. £25 million on a completely unproven teenager? Please!

Who knows, Guilherme may come good, but the fact of the matter is that the Hammers simply didn’t need him at that moment in time.

We had far more pressing priorities, including the need for a powerful, box-to-box midfielder.

Can you imagine what Potter and Macaulay could have done with that £52 million this summer?

I can promise you something – they wouldn’t have signed an injury prone 32-year-old striker and a completely unproven 18-year-old winger.

West Ham’s financial plight becomes clear

The problem the Hammers have now is Steidten’s wasteful spending has set the club back by at least 12 months.

Potter and Macaulay will not be able to clear up the German’s mess in just one transfer window.

As a result of overspending over the past year or so, West Ham are now said to be chasing ‘bargain deals’ ahead of the summer window.

Losses for this season are expected to be around £60m and could be as high as £80m.

Much of that is due to some really poor recruitment as far as I’m concerned.

The signings of Niclas Fullkrug and Luis Guilherme were both terribly thought out.

Now Graham Potter has to work doubly hard to make up for the trouble caused by Tim Steidten before him at West Ham.