West Ham United director of football Tim Steidten was very unhappy with one particular deal in the summer transfer window it seems.
Tim Steidten joined West Ham as the director of football back in the summer of 2023 – a full 12 months before Julen Lopetegui arrived at the London Stadium.
The Hammers are undoubtedly in a better position now with the German and the Spaniard working in harmony together.
The West Ham manager brought nine new players to the London Stadium in the summer, assisted of course by the director of football.
In addition to all of those new signings, Tim Steidten assured Lopetegui that he would not lose West Ham’s three best players – Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus in the summer.
On the whole, the summer was a huge success for Steidten. However, one deal seemingly infuriated him from start to finish…
West Ham deal really frustrated Tim Steidten
Whilst the Hammers undoubtedly enjoyed a prosperous summer window, it could well have been even better.
Lopetegui and Steidten combined to make numerous top-class signings, but there was one glaring miss.
West Ham’s failure to sign a top-class young striker with real pace was a huge oversight in my opinion.
Jhon Duran would have been perfect for the Hammers, and now we know why Steidten failed to bring the South American starlet to East London.
According to Hammers insider Sean Whetstone, Steidten became fed up with Aston Villa continually moving the goalposts regarding the fee they wanted for Duran.
They asked for Lewis Orford to be included in the deal, and Whetstone claims it’s still debatable as to whether they would have even accepted a £40 million bid for the Colombia international.
It seemed at one point that the Hammers had a deal for Duran almost wrapped up, especially after the striker did the famous crossed Hammers sign during a livestream.
That didn’t happen in the end though, and Niclas Fullkrug was signed from Borussia Dortmund instead.
West Ham missing out on Duran was a big mistake
The Colombian has been electric for Villa during the first three games of the campaign, with two goals to his name.
We all saw first hand just how good he is, when he scored the winner for Aston Villa against us at the London Stadium on the opening day of the season.
West Ham were apparently only willing to pay around £30 million for the 20-year-old, but we should have just paid Villa what they wanted for him.
Duran would have taken this team to another level entirely what with his explosive pace, incredible movement and lethal finishing.
His potential is sky high, and if he continues to work hard and applies himself properly both on and off the pitch, he will undoubtedly become world-class one day.
It’s such a shame that Tim Steidten failed to bring Jhon Duran to West Ham in the end.
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