West Ham United decided to part ways with Tim Steidten not long after Julen Lopetegui was sent packing.
Graham Potter replaced the Spaniard at West Ham, and brought his trusted recruitment guru Kyle Macaulay along with him, meaning that Tim Steidten suddenly became redundant at the London Stadium.
Steidten’s access to internal systems was taken away not long after Potter’s arrival at West Ham.
He then was banished from the club altogether whilst the Hammers hierarchy debated with lawyers about a settlement agreement for the German.
Terms were settled upon in the end, and the 45-year-old is officially no longer at the London Stadium anymore.
Steidten oversaw some shocking deals for West Ham, including Niclas Fullkrug, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Luis Guilherme, although the latter may come good one day, who knows?
He certainly didn’t live up to his ‘pearl-diver’ monicker during his time at the London Stadium.
It’s no surprise that he was moved on in the end.
However, things could have been so different for Steidten, had he signed one player who was offered to us on a plate…TWICE!
Tim Steidten was shocked after West Ham were offered £70m star
Steidten will mostly be remembered by the Hammers fans for his poor recruitment during his time at the London Stadium.
He failed to address our lack of athleticism in central midfield, and wasn’t able to solve our centre-forward issues.
The opportunity was certainly there for him to make a serious statement in the summer.
And in the January transfer window it seems…
According to a report from The Athletic, Steidten was shocked when he received a phone-call in the January transfer window.
He was offered one player in particular, and Steidten actually initially thought they had called the wrong person by mistake.
On the other end of the phone, it was officials from Aston Villa, offering the then Hammers director of football another bite at the Jhon Duran cherry.
The 21-year-old striker ended up joining Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr in the end, in a deal that could be worth as much as £70 million.
However, that was only after West Ham had a £57 million bid rejected for the Colombia international.
West Ham failed with Jhon Duran bid, again
The Hammers chased Duran all summer long, but missed out on him in the end after we refused to meet Villa’s £40 million demands for him.
It seemed for all the world that the Villa hitman was set to join the Hammers six months ago, especially after he did the ‘crossed hammers’ sign during a live stream.
Why oh why the Hammers didn’t push the boat out and pay £40 million, even £50 million, for him in the summer is anyone’s guess.
We had a top-class striker there for the taking – someone who could have led the line for us for the next decade.
Alas, Tim Steidten brought Niclas Fullkrug to West Ham instead, and that decision played a key role in his eventual sacking.
It’s no surprise that the German jumped at the chance to make up for that error in January, but the club were unfortunately unable to push a deal through for the South American hitman.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
