West Ham have been busy identifying candidates to replace technical director Tim Steidten and Dan Ashworth has been linked.
- Hammers News exclusive
Angry with the way West Ham’s £155m summer splurge was spent, David Sullivan demoted Tim Steidten ahead of the January transfer window.
The Hammers’ majority owner took back control of deals as Julen Lopetegui was sacked and Steidten soon followed.
Although West Ham only announced his departure on Tuesday morning, after the window had officially closed, the reality is Steidten left the club weeks ago to return to Germany.
As West Ham worked on his contract termination, they revoked Steidten’s access to the club and the computer systems.
Steidten is said to have gone sight-seeing around London for two weeks and was ‘relieved’ to be leaving the club.
While Steidten has been criticised for his part in leaving West Ham with the oldest squad in the Premier League, he was clearly someone who got deals done.
There was fierce competition for some of the players signed by the former Bayer Leverkusen man including Mohammed Kudus, Jean-Clair Todibo and Crysencio Summerville.
But Steidten simply did not deliver on the vision he promised – to rebuild the Hammers around, in his own words, ‘young, dynamic, exciting and versatile talents’.
Hammers identify Steidten replacements ahead of big decision
Now he has left, West Ham have identified potential replacements for Steidten in England and overseas.
One name reportedly in the club’s sights is Dan Ashworth.
When Graham Potter was being linked with taking over from Lopetegui, Hammers News suggested West Ham should reunite him with Ashworth as a replacement for Steidten.
Once Potter was aboard last month, Sullivan confidant Sean Whetstone revealed Steidten was being sacked, that recruitment guru Kyle Macauley was coming in from Chelsea and that Ashworth could join that Brighton reunion in east London.
Whetstone claimed Steidten’s replacement could well be ex Newcastle, Man United and Brighton sporting director Ashworth – who worked well with West Ham’s new manager during their time together at the Amex.
But Sullivan must step back for Ashworth to join West Ham ahead of the club’s big decision.
Telegraph journalist Matt Law revealed this week that Sullivan is still deliberating on whether to appoint a replacement for Steidten.
He stated that West Ham are currently in ‘no particular rush’ to make that decision.
Sullivan must step back for Ashworth to join West Ham
Now football correspondent Graeme Bailey has delivered an update on that situation.
Bailey says Ashworth will end up at another Premier League club after his short-lived stay at Man United.
And while he says that could be West Ham, it would mean Sullivan changing his ways.
“The one thing I am told is that Macauley is more analysis (of targets) than the actually recruiting of them,” Bailey told Hammers News.
“That is his area of expertise. But if West Ham use him correctly I think it could make a big difference, but that is key – how West Ham use him.
“Ashworth is going to turn up at a Premier League club at some point, so it could be West Ham.
“But I don’t see it to be honest under the current regime. Would David Sullivan and others at the top allow Ashworth to work without interference, which he would demand? I am not convinced to be honest.”
Ashworth’s record in the transfer market, like most recruitment chiefs, includes hits and misses.
Ashworth’s astonishing transfer track record
But his big selling point has been his ability to make low-risk signings by bringing in young, unknown prospects who develop and rocket in value.
Tariq Lamptey, Anthony Gordon, Marc Cucurella, Kaoru Mitoma, Nick Pope, Hammers new boy Evan Ferguson, Leandro Trossard, Alexis Mac Allister, Alexander Isak, and Moises Caicedo have been the top signings under Ashworth’s tenures at his clubs.
Moises Caicedo stands out as the biggest success story, being snapped up at Brighton for just £4m and being sold on for £115m to Chelsea just over two years later.
Isak is another which stands out. The Swede looked expensive at £63m from Real Sociedad.
But he is now valued in excess of double that by Newcastle and is one of the most coveted strikers in world football.
Brighton turned down an £80m profit on Mitoma in the last knockings of the winter window after Ashworth brought him to the club for just £2.6m.
It is that kind of transfer market savvy West Ham fans want to see at their club.
Surely Sullivan would too given the vast profits on Ashworth’s track record? We will find out soon enough with the Hammers set to make a decision before the summer window.
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