There are two brand new names in the frame to be the West Ham DoF and Aston Villa won’t be very happy about it.
West Ham and Aston Villa are planning to make big changes to their recruitment ahead of the summer transfer window.
Hammers News reported on claims from journalist Jacob Steinberg recently that majority stakeholder David Sullivan is leading a push to bring in a top level Director of Football at West Ham.
And Aston Villa came very close to landing Barcelona’s director of football Mateu Alemany until a U-turn earlier this month.
West Ham want to appoint a DoF alongside sporting director Mark Noble, who will reportedly focus more on being a bridge between the academy and first team.
Easy to see why owners like Benfica’s lucrative model
West Ham and Aston Villa want to improve recruitment and how transfer money is spent.
The process to recruit a DoF is said to be well underway at both West Ham and Villa with several candidates said to be in the running.
Now two brand new names in the frame to be West Ham DoF and Aston Villa may not be very happy about it.
Two brand new names in the frame to be West Ham DoF and Aston Villa won’t be very happy about it
According to 90min, Benfica’s Rui Pedro Braz and Aston Villa’s Johan Lange are two new potential candidates to become West Ham DoF.
Villa’s very public courting of Alemany has cast doubt over Lange’s future at Villa Park.
Meanwhile West Ham’s board are clearly impressed by the ridiculous sums Pedro Braz has raised for Benfica by identifying young talent before anyone else.
Benfica made nearly £200m from the sales of Darwin Nunez and Enzo Fernandez alone.
All eyes on West Ham recruitment this summer
With West Ham’s transfer budget said to be around that figure again this summer, the new DoF will be under pressure to get value for money while filling a Declan Rice shaped hole at the London Stadium.
Should the Hammers lure Lange to London, the Villains would almost certainly ramp up their own pursuit of someone to take his place given Unai Emery will be keen to improve his squad ready for a potential European campaign.
“Roma sporting director Tiago Pinto is among the frontrunners for the director of football position – which will see Mark Noble transition into a slightly different role – while 90min understands Tim Steidten, formerly of Bayer Leverkusen, Brentford’s Lee Dykes, Benfica’s Rui Pedro Braz and Aston Villa’s Johan Lange are also under consideration,” 90min reports.