Tim Steidten really disappointed in his role at West Ham United, and now it’s down to Graham Potter to clear up the German’s mess.
Julen Lopetegui and David Moyes are to blame as well, but Tim Steidten oversaw some truly horrific deals during his time at West Ham.
Graham Potter brought in his recruitment guru Kyle Macaulay when he arrived at the London Stadium, and as a result, Steidten was sent packing.
The Hammers head coach and his sidekick face a hugely important summer window ahead, and they are allegedly planning a big squad revamp at the end of the season.
That really is needed, considering how poorly the current squad has been put together.
Signings like Konstantinos Mavropanos, Niclas Fullkrug and Luis Guilherme have really set us back as a club.
Everything needs to change at the London Stadium regarding how we identify targets.
However, Potter’s latest comments have hardly inspired confidence.
West Ham boss Graham Potter makes Tim Stediten admission
The German is long gone now, and the future is very bright with Potter at the helm.
It will be very interesting indeed to see the approach he takes to player recruitment when the summer transfer window opens.
However, he has just made a concerning admission regarding exactly that, albeit perhaps without meaning to.
When speaking on the Iron Cast podcast, Potter suggested that he is not prepared to completely rip up all of the work that went into identifying potential targets before he arrived at the London Stadium:
“It’s important we don’t come in and undo the good work the club has done before we arrived,” Potter explained.
“Maybe the club has been scouting a player for six months and has done their research, so it’s important we don’t throw that progress away.”
That’s a striking admission from Potter.
Without meaning to, the Hammers head coach has suggested that he’s open to signing players identified by the recently departed Steidten.
I’m not sure that’s the right way to go, given the fact that Steidten was dismissed after a really poor record when it comes to his signings for the Hammers.
Potter and Macaulay must take a new approach
I’m hoping that Potter and his sidekick Macaulay opt to go down an entirely different route when it comes to player recruitment.
I would like to see the Hammers target players with younger, more dynamic and energetic profiles.
Wouldn’t it be great to sign players with huge potential BEFORE they become stars, just as teams like Brighton and Brentford do.
It’s a much more sustainable model than the one we currently operate under.
We have the oldest squad in the Premier League right now, and we sign the oldest players on average in the top flight as well.
Something drastic has to change, if we are to make some real, discernible progress as a club.
In order to do that though, it will be a necessity for Graham Potter to take a different approach to the one used by Tim Steidten before him.
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