West Ham: Technical director Tim Steidten leaves club

Steidten’s departure was inevitable when new manager Potter confirmed Macaulay had arrived as head of recruitment.

Chairman David Sullivan sided with Steidten in his frosty relationship with former manager Moyes, withdrawing a contract offer to the Scot, who left the London Stadium at the end of last season.

The idea was to let Steidten, who made his name in Germany with Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen, oversee a revolution in the way West Ham played, while at the same time maintaining a challenge for European qualification after three successive seasons in Uefa competitions.

But the appointment of Lopetegui as Moyes’ replacement raised an eyebrow and while, on paper, a £100m+ recruitment campaign looked quite good, on the pitch it was shown up to be lacking in speed and quality.

Steidten has been heavily criticised for spending £27m on injury-prone 31-year-old striker Niclas Fullkrug, who has scored two goals in 11 appearances, only five of which were starts. The Germany international is currently sidelined for an extended period with a hamstring injury.

By the beginning of December, it was a matter of when, not if, Lopetegui was going to be sacked. Like Moyes, the former Spain boss stopped dealing with Steidten, whose position became untenable once Potter was installed.