West Ham United director of football Tim Steidten has insisted he is happy working with David Moyes at the London Stadium amid talk of a rift behind the scenes at the club.
The Hammers’ director of football has been speaking to the German Press Agency this week, with his latest comments covered by NWZ Online.
He’s been in charge at the London Stadium since July last year, when he arrived as the club’s director of football.
It’s fair to say it’s been a busy first year for him, with Declan Rice and Gianluca Scamacca two big departures in the summer and the arrival of several new signings such as Mohammed Kudus, Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse and Konstantinos Mavropanos before Kalvin Phillips joined on loan in January.
Steidten was brought in after previously impressing at Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen and was appointed to lead the Hammers moving forward as they look to build on last year’s European success.
Questions have regularly been raised about the situation between him and manager David Moyes, though, with the Scot known to be more hands on that his modern contemporaries when it comes to transfer business.
There have also been claims that owner David Sullivan has been less than impressed by some of the business the club have done.
The suggestion has been that the three, particularly Steidten and Moyes, have been at loggerheads but the West Ham director has appeared to suggest that is not the case.
“I am euphoric at every game and every training session because I feel that I am in the right place, in the right league,” he said.
“I wanted to have overall responsibility. I wanted to take control myself. It was a stark change for all three (Sullivan, Moyes and himself).
“David Moyes – I think – noticed through my transfers that my work was important. Conversely, I learned an incredible amount from him when it comes to perspectives on football.
“A squad restructuring is always a four-to-five-year project. I was at Werder for 18 years and could probably have worked there longer. But I also wanted to experience something different and never have to say to myself: I should have done that. But what I experience in England is particularly good for my development.”
