West Ham’s technical director Tim Steidten is busy making plans for the next window and there’s a blow for Man City.
Regardless of whether David Moyes is West Ham boss come the summer, Tim Steidten will be the man calling the shots on transfers.
It seems that will not be good news for Man City and Kalvin Phillips, though.
Under the terms of his current West Ham deal, Moyes has ultimate power of veto on recruitment.
The manager reportedly used that to thwart a number of Steidten deals in the last two windows.
And Moyes pushed to bring in Phillips to West Ham from Manchester City in January. That’s despite most feeling the Hammers did not need another central midfielder.
Steidten calling all the shots on West Ham’s summer transfers
Indeed reports have claimed Moyes insisted on signing Phillips against the wishes of some of the West Ham hierarchy.
After 18 months in the cold at Man City, Phillips endured a disastrous start to his time at West Ham.
Although he came on as a substitute as the Hammers won 3-1 at Everton on Saturday.
When Phillips joined West Ham there was no option to buy included. But reports have stated a deal could be struck to take him off Man City’s hands at between £30-40m.
Now a new claim has been made by a site with close links to majority owner David Sullivan that will impact any chance of that happening.
Steidten in early talks over West Ham’s first summer signing and it’s bad news for Man City.
According to Claret and Hugh, Steidten is laying the foundations with Antwerp to sign midfielder Mandela Keita.
Hammers line up Belgian and it’s bad news for Phillips and Man City
The 21-year-old defensive midfielder has already been capped by the senior Belgium team.
And the site describes Mandela as Steidten’s first pick for the summer window.
The German will be unobstructed by Moyes in the summer regardless of whether he signs a new deal or not.
Mandela is likely to cost West Ham around £15-20m – double the fee Antwerp owe OH Leuven as part of an obligation to buy him.
“This potential transfer target marks one of the first ventures for Tim Steidten’s newly established scouting department,” the report states.
“Steidten has bolstered the team with data analysts and international scouts, signalling a proactive approach to identifying talent.”
This is bad news for Man City’s hopes of offloading Phillips to West Ham for a decent fee.
There has even been talk the champions want to try and include Phillips as a makeweight in a fresh move for West Ham talisman Lucas Paqueta to drive the cost down.
So not only will they have to look elsewhere to offload Phillips, Man City will also have to pay the Hammers their full asking price if they want Paqueta.
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