West Ham: Graham Potter addresses Tim Steidten 'decision' after Kyle Macaulay reunion

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Evening Standard

·13 de fevereiro de 2025

West Ham: Graham Potter addresses Tim Steidten 'decision' after Kyle Macaulay reunion

Graham Potter requested West Ham to pay considerable compensation fee to hire Kyle Macaulay as new head of recruitment

Graham Potter was willing to work alongside both Tim Steidten and Kyle Macaulay on recruitment at West Ham until the club “made the decision” to remove Steidten from his post.

Vídeos OneFootball

Steidten left West Ham as the club’s technical director at the end of the January transfer window following a souring of the relationship between himself and the club’s board.

He had not always seen eye to eye with the ex-Hammers manager David Moyes, and his relationship with Potter’s predecessor Julen Lopetegui was described as having become similarly “strained” by the end of the Spaniard’s reign, at the turn of the year.

Steidten originally joined West Ham in the summer of 2023 and his resumé featured successful stints in player recruitment roles with Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen.

While Steidten did help to bring the likes of Mohammed Kudus through the door, most of the recruits the Hammers made on his watch have not yet proven shrewd signings, including Konstantinos Mavropanos, Guido Rodriguez and the injured Niclas Fullkrug.

Midway through the January transfer window, Potter convinced West Ham to pay the considerable compensation fee needed to relieve Kyle Macaulay of his role at Chelsea in order to hire him as the Hammers’ new head of recruitment.

Macaulay had previously worked with Potter at Ostersunds, Swansea City, Brighton and Chelsea, where he had stayed on even after Potter’s April 2023 sacking.

Potter was asked on Thursday whether he had always wanted Macaulay’s arrival at West Ham to bring an end to Steidten’s own time at the club.

“No, no. My thinking was always [having] two people,” Potter explained.

“That was a possibility, of course. But it wasn’t to be. That’s the decision the club have made, and now I will work with the rest of the staff here at the club.

“I’m happy with how Kyle has settled in and how we’re cooperating as a department and interacting with everybody that is here.”

West Ham have one win and a draw from Potter’s first five matches in charge. They are preparing to welcome trio Lucas Paqueta, Edson Alvarez and Jean-Clair Todibo back from injury when they host Brentford on Saturday, with loan signing Evan Ferguson in line to make his debut.