West Ham united director of football Tim Steidten worked very closely alongside Julen Lopetegui during the summer transfer window.
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 German has played a key role at the club when it comes to transfers, but his role consists of so much more than purely overseeing incomings and outgoings.
Tim Steidten takes great pride in overseeing player welfare at West Ham, and he proved that by flying out to Brazil to check up on Lucas Paqueta during the summer.
West Ham are undoubtedly in a better position now with Steidten and Lopetegui working in harmony together.
It’s a system that all top clubs in Europe deploy. We were being left in the dark ages with David Moyes at the club, but that’s all changed now.
Tim Steidten made bold promise to Julen Lopetegui
The so-called ‘pearl diver’ has played a leading role in the Hammers transforming into a far more professional outfit off the pitch.
Before Tim arrived, we left our business very late and were always scrambling about for deals during the final few days of the window.
The Hammers struggled to get deals over the line and many times they collapsed at the late stages.
That has definitely all changed now with Steidten being given full power and control over transfers.
Now a big new claim has been made about something the German told Lopetegui earlier this summer.
According to a report from The Athletic, Tim promised Lopetegui that the club would not lose any of our three star players – Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta or Mohammed Kudus.
“Before discussing transfer targets, Steidten assured Lopetegui that West Ham would not sell any star players. Lucas Paqueta remained despite interest from boyhood club Flamengo, Jarrod Bowen was rewarded with the captaincy and Mohammed Kudus’ £85million release clause expired in July.“
“Steidten kept his promise.“
That was quite the promise. It wouldn’t have shocked anybody if Paqueta, Kudus, or both of them would have left West Ham this summer.
Fair play to Steidten there. However, let’s see if we manage to keep hold of those three players beyond the end of next summer, that will be the real challenge!
Tim Steidten’s best West Ham signings
We all know that the German has played a key role in numerous Hammers signings.
Whilst he didn’t have complete power last summer with David Moyes at the helm, he still played a pivotal role in the signings of Edson Alvarez, Mohammed Kudus and Konstantinos Mavropanos.
After Lopetegui replaced Moyes, Steidten was given the keys to the kingdom at the London Stadium, as West Ham decided to go down more of a continental route when it comes to player recruitment.
The theory is that Lopetegui will go to Steidten with a list of attributes he wants in a player – a very specific profile if you will.
The German will then go out and identify potential targets for the Spaniard to choose from.
The 45-year-old has worked wonders this summer by helping to bring in the likes of Jean-Clair Todibo, Crysencio Summerville, Luis Guilherme and Guido Rodriguez.
Last year, Kudus and Alvarez would not have joined the Hammers without him.
West Ham are in a very good place right now, with Tim Steidten and Julen Lopetegui working alongside one another in harmony.
And long may that continue.
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