Tim Steidten has become quite a high profile figure since arriving at West Ham back in July 2023.

The German – who works as Technical Director at the London Stadium – was widely believed to have clashed with David Moyes on several occasions over how they envisaged a rebuild of the squad.

Steidten – who was in charge of replacing Moyes – has since won the battle after Julen Lopetegui arrived in east London, and the pursestrings were loosened as almost £150m was spent on a summer recruitment drive.

However, aside from Max Kilman – who arrived in a £40m move from Wolves – most of West Ham’s other nine summer additions have failed to impress as the Hammers sit 15th in the Premier League.
Now – thanks to the Daily Mail – it has been revealed what West Ham insiders think of the Luis Guilherme deal in particular, which was finalised by Tim Steidten.

West Ham chiefs baffled by Luis Guilherme move

Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail explains that those inside West Ham are raising their eyebrows at Steidten’s decision to spend £25m on the Brazilian.

It is said that the 18-year-old has failed to make much of an impact on Lopetegui behind the scenes in training at Rush Green, with the Spaniard believing the South American is far from the level required to make an impact at senior level.

That is quite a worrying belief to hold about a £25m signing who earns £25,000-a-week at the London Stadium.

In fairness to the teenager, he has only been given four minutes of action in the Premier League, and was also strangely left out of West Ham’s two Carabao Cup matches this season, games which would have been ideal for the Brazil U20 international to get a feel for English football.

Question marks surround other Tim Steidten signings

Guilherme is not the only Steidten signing who has struggled.
The £27m Niclas Fullkrug has openly described his start at West Ham as “really bad” – after a series of injuries prevent the Germany international from finding any rhythm.

Furthermore, Lopetegui has only given Crysencio Summerville one Premier League start since his £25m move from Leeds – baffling treatment of a forward named Championship Player of the Year last season.

Even Jeff Stelling has criticised Lopetegui for his treatment of Summerville when speaking on talkSPORT.

Of course, Steidten will quite rightly have the finger pointed at him if he signed these players without Lopetegui’s approval, but it is worth giving Guilherme and Summerville a chance regardless if poor results continue.

No Sign Of Key Hammers Ahead Of United ‘ El Sackio’ Crunch Game

Its only October, two months into the Premier League season and yet some media joker has already christened the match between Erik Ten Hag’s Manchester United and julen West Ham teams as ‘El Sackio’ with the inference being that the loser will be handed a p45 and be on his way out of the door of the club straight after.

I think that is a bit previous in Lopetegui’s case but for Ten Hag – who knows, Football Club owners demand success even after two trophies in two seasons.

So – whether it is indeed p45 time, it is no doubt a crucial game for Lopetegui and West Ham to try and regroup after last weekend’s dreadful drubbing at Spurs.

The West Ham media department have shared their customary video on whufc.com: Strategy, clues as to likely line-ups and training emphasis are all there to be previewed ahead of the Sunday afternoon match.

The main worry from watching the clip is that three players (apart from the stricken Fullkrug) are absent from the whole six minutes of video, Jarrod Bowen, Jean Clair Todibo and Tomas Soucek all missing from training with the main squad.

Bowen was missing from the last video pre-Tottenham so I wouldn’t want to jump to conclusions that the Hammers will be without their talismanic skipper on top of Mohammed Kudus’ ban: But it is worrying to see three integral members of the team missing just three days ahead of the game.

We will see what we can find out about the fitness of the three – but could be big worries on the horizon for Lopetegui and Hammers fans.

West Ham would be hugely weakened without the trio – although Bowen of course the biggest ‘miss’, Todibo’s absence would allow Konstantionos Mavropanos an opportunity: Souckek if absent would mean that under-fire Rodriguez would have to go again in midfield. And without Bowen – we’d be pretty impotent going forwards. Hopefully the trio appear on the team sheet come Sunday.