Exclusive: David Moyes ‘banned’ West Ham chief from training ground

West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui is likely to face the backlash from Tim Steidten’s mistakes in the transfer market, according to the club’s former scout.

Mick Brown, who worked for the club as a senior scout when Steidten was appointed in July 2023, admitted exclusively to Football Insider that the German’s appointment had raised red flags amongst the staff ahead of his arrival.

Brown confirmed that his contacts had raised concerns surrounding his time in Germany and the way he left Bayer Leverkusen prior to his move to the London Stadium.

This comes as pressure continues to grow on the technical director as a number of the Hammers’ summer signings have so far failed to adapt to the Premier League.

West Ham have won just one of their opening six Premier League games this season and Julen Lopetegui’s position has come under questioning as a result.

However, fingers at the club are also being pointed at Steidten after a busy transfer window failed to pay off early in the season.

Tim Steidten faces growing pressure at West Ham

David Moyes’ exit from the London Stadium came off the back of a public falling-out with Steidten, which saw the technical director banned from the training ground.

It was Steidten who won the power struggle in the end, but that has only increased the pressure and scrutiny on his role at West Ham.

Brown, who followed Moyes out of the club but has retained his strong connections, has confessed Lopetegui will likely be the one who suffers from Steidten’s mistakes as the home crowd will only see his impact on the team.

“I spoke to some of my contacts to see what they knew about him,” he told Football Insider.

“They all said, you know he got Werder Bremen relegated? Then he went to Bayer Leverkusen and left there in dubious circumstances as well.

“So I said ‘Well we’ve just appointed him, how can that be? Two and two is making five here’.

“Anyway, they decided to go down that road.

“David Moyes banned him from the training ground because all he wanted to do was put his arms around the players when they won.

“The problem is, 60,000 people aren’t going to get on his back. They’ll get on the manager’s back.

“He brings these players in, I’m not sure what due diligence he does to find out what sort of characters he’s signing and all of that.

“But if things go wrong, it’s the manager who gets the blame. They’ll say the manager has to make it work, even if they’re not his signings.”