West Ham chief Tim Steidten asked to stay away from dressing room as he leads search for new manager | OneFootball

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West Ham technical director Tim Steidten has been asked to stay away from David Moyes and his first-team squad for the remainder of the season, as the club continue their search for a potential new manager.

Moyes is out of contract at the end of the campaign and no firm decision is expected to be taken over his future until he holds talks with co-chairman David Sullivan after the final game.

However, there has been a growing expectation over the past fortnight that Moyes will move on this summer and Steidten has been playing a leading role in the hunt for a replacement.

While the German has not been formally banned from the club’s training ground, it has been decided following internal talks that he should not be in direct interaction with Moyes or his players on a day-to-day basis during the final weeks of the season, though he is still expected to attend matches.

The Hammers are currently eighth in the Premier League and will slip to ninth should Chelsea avoid defeat against Tottenham this evening, but are not yet out of the race for Europe, with games against Luton and Manchester City to come after this weekend’s trip to Stamford Bridge.

Steidten arrived in east London last summer having previously worked at Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen. There were early reports of tensions between Moyes and the new man over transfer targets, but West Ham enjoyed a successful window in which the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse were signed.

While the nature of Steidten’s work means he travels regularly, the 45-year-old has been a visible presence at the London Stadium on matchdays this season and has regularly appeared pitchside before games.

His task this summer will be to rebuild an aging squad while in all likelihood finding Moyes’s successor.

The club held talks with Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorim last week and have done likewise with former Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui. Hansi Flick, previously in charge of Bayern Munich and the Germany national side, and Lille’s Paulo Fonseca have also been linked with the job.