West Ham are now understood to be bracing themselves for a potential approach from Liverpool for sporting director Tim Steidten.
The Merseysiders are on the prowl to fill the soon-to-be vacant position, with Jorg Schmadtke departing as part of a clearing of the decks at Anfield.
“But West Ham’s Steidten has emerged as a leading candidate to occupy the sporting director role, alongside Bournemouth’s Richard Hughes,” Lewis Steele and Kieran Gill reported for the Daily Mail.
“Mail Sport understands no official approaches have been made yet as that would be bad etiquette during the final days of a transfer window.
“The Hammers, though, are braced for interest in their lauded transfer chief, who only joined the east London club in the summer but was heralded for replacing Declan Rice with a flurry of shrewd signings including James Ward-Prowse, Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez.”
Presuming that West Ham is one of the next calls on the list for FSG president Mike Gordon, the Reds could be about to make their life significantly easier when it comes to the managerial hunt.
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Alonso’s prior relationship with Steidten
It shouldn’t be forgotten that Steidten was the man responsible for bringing Xabi Alonso – a reported managerial target for Liverpool – to Bayer Leverkusen along with a host of top talent.
Whilst it may be too simple a conclusion to draw, it’s difficult to imagine the German’s potential arrival at Anfield (should he be keen on the role in question) doing anything but bolstering our hopes of landing our ex-midfielder.
Add on top the 44-year-old’s strong eye for a signing and we could re-create quite the formidable partnership at L4 for the seasons to come.
It remains to be seen, of course, if either party is our absolute top choice for the respective roles we have in mind.