Technical director Tim Steidten is set to take full control of West Ham transfers from David Moyes this summer so how do their best signings compare.
The summer transfer window opens in just over two months.
And West Ham are already being linked with a host of summer transfers.
As things stand David Moyes is not certain to be West Ham’s manager by then.
It has been made perfectly clear that Hammers technical director Tim Steidten will have full control of recruitment from this summer.
Until now Moyes had power of veto as per the fine print of his existing West Ham contract.
As exclusively revealed last month, the Scot’s new contract – should he sign it – is ‘subject to terms’.
It is reasonable to assume those terms centre around removing Moyes’ power of veto on transfers and limiting his influence and involvement on recruitment – ceding ultimate say to German Steidten.
Besides appointing his brother Moritz and fellow German Max Hahn to the scouting department, there have been several hints that Steidten intends to stay at West Ham and knows he will have control of transfers.
That is not to say Moyes won’t have any input on recruitment if he does sign a new deal. But he most certainly won’t have the final say.
With all that said how do the transfers of both men compare?
Steidten vs Moyes: their best signings analysed ahead of West Ham’s summer power shift.
Moyes made a number of highly successful transfers during his time at Everton. But that was different era.
Steidten has already had roaring success with the captures of Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez at West Ham. And Konstantinos Mavropanos has showed signs he could be a top defender for the Hammers.
But Moyes had power of veto last summer, therefore he deserves credit for those too. For that same reason we have not included James Ward-Prowse – signed since Steidten’s arrival but believed to have been very much a Moyes capture.
We have included Kalvin Phillips on Moyes’ list because it has been verified he was the manager’s choice against the advice of others.
So I have focused on his West Ham signings over his two spells and Steidten’s from his time at Leverkusen and Weder Bremen.
Both men have big successes on their records. But some of the names on Steidten’s list will blow you away.
Steidten’s best signings during his time at Leverkusen and Werder Bremen:
Steidten has overseen the signings of some brilliant players including Serge Gnabry from Arsenal and Thomas Delaney from FC Copenhagen. The great Kevin De Bruyne also arrived from Chelsea – when deemed not good enough by Jose Mourinho – in Steidten’s first year as ‘Head of Scouting’ for the club.
Such success in the market saw him poached by West Ham’s Europa League quarter-final opponents Bayer Leverkusen.
They put him in charge of identifying signings before a full promotion to ‘Sporting Director’, where he was also influential in bringing Xabi Alonso to the club in October 2022. And everyone knows what has happened since then.
In his four years at Leverkusen, the club made enormous advances in their transfers, bringing in a number of unheralded gems and known but underrated stars.
We’ve chosen a squad of the best 17 for Steidten below in no particular order.
Steidten’s best signings:
- Jiri Pavlenka
- Piero Hincapie
- Mitchel Bakker
- Odilon Kossounou
- Jeremie Frimpong
- Edmond Tapsoba
- Exequiel Palacios
- Kerem Demirbay
- Robert Andrich
- Amine Adli
- Thomas Delaney
- Kevin De Bruyne
- Serge Gnabry
- Moussa Diaby
- Florian Wirtz
- Adam Hlozek
- Patrik Schick
Moyes’ best signings during his two spells at West Ham:
Some of Moyes’ signings while at Everton were remarkably good. The likes of Tim Cahill, Marouane Fellaini, Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin, Joseph Yobo, Mikel Arteta, Steven Pienaar, Thomas Gravesen, Yakubu, Joloen Lescott and more were signed by the Scot there.
But he insisted on having final say on all transfers as one of his bargaining chips when agreeing to manage the Hammers out of two relegation battles.
And he has made some excellent signings in that time – and some that haven’t worked out such as Jordan Hugill, Patrice Evra, Nikola Vlasic and – thus far – Maxwel Cornet. But that is also likely to be the case with Steidten at his previous clubs too.
The likes of Gianluca Scamacca, Thilo Kehrer and Nayef Aguerd divide opinion. Under a different system each might shine. And all three contributed to West Ham’s first major trophy for 43 years so they make the Moyes signings squad list.
I’ve chosen a squad of the best 17 for Moyes below in no particular order. But in order to get to 17 have had to pad it out with two players who may yet – as unlikely as it seems – turn their West Ham careers around.
Moyes’ best West Ham signings:
- Alphonse Areola
- Joao Mario
- Jarrod Bowen
- Tomas Soucek
- Vladimir Coufal
- Said Benrahma
- Jesse Lingard
- Craig Dawson
- Kurt Zouma
- Lucas Paqueta
- Emerson Palmieri
- Nayef Aguerd
- Gianluca Scamacca
- Thilo Kehrer
- Maxwel Cornet
- Flynn Downes
- Kalvin Phillips
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