Tim Steidten was moved on from West Ham earlier this month, after the arrival of Graham Potter.
West Ham appointed Graham Potter to replace Julen Lopetegui and the 49-year-old brought along his recruitment guru Kyle Macaulay with him, rendering Tim Steidten as redundant.
Steidten broke his silence a couple of weeks ago after losing his job at West Ham, and his message was surprisingly classy.
The appointment of Lopetegui in the summer certainly didn’t help Steidten’s chances of succeeding at the London Stadium, after the German warned the Hammers owners against bringing in the Spaniard.
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Then, when Potter replaced Lopetegui just over seven weeks ago, the German’s access to internal systems was taken away.
Steidten’s time with West Ham will be remembered as nothing other than an abject failure.
However, he did make a potentially really exciting signing for the Hammers – one that could yield huge rewards for us in the future.
The problem is, he has barely played this season.
Tim Steidten’s Mohamadou Kante signing has backfired for West Ham
Steidten brought Mohamadou Kante to the London Stadium from Paris FC in the summer of 2024.
However, he was then loaned back immediately to the French side for the season.
The Hammers signed Kante last summer for €500k plus €400k in potential add-ons (The Athletic).
That brings the total amount West Ham may have to pay for the 19-year-old to around £715,000.
Mohamadou Kante is very highly rated out in his homeland, and the hopes are that he will be Les Bleus’ next big star.
So why has he been given just four minutes of football for Paris FC this season?
The French second tier club were taken over by the Arnault family in November 2024 (BBC).
However, the acquisition involved a minority stake for Red Bull, and that’s where the problem lies for Kante.
Mohamadou Kante won’t play regularly for a Red Bull team
The Red Bull group have a long and decorated history of developing some of the best talents in the game before selling them on for huge fees.
Just look at the likes of Erling Haaland, Naby Keita, Ibrahima Konate Dayot Upamecano, Dominik Szoboszlai and Christopher Nkunku.
They have all played for Red Bull owned teams before going on to join some of the biggest clubs in the world for huge fees.
The RB group prides itself on doing exactly that, and it’s clearly a very sustainable model.
So with that in mind there’s no way they will entertain developing another team’s player for them.
Tim Steidten was said to have orchestrated a real coup by bringing Mohamadou Kante to West Ham, but the decision to loan him back to Paris FC has proven to be a disastrous one.
Hopefully the Hammers are able to find a better loan deal for Kante in the 2025/26 season.
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