Following manager Jurgen Klopp’s announcement that he will leave Anfield at the end of the season, shocking the football world in the process, Liverpool confirmed soon afterwards that sporting director Jorg Schmadtke would leave at the end of January, despite only arriving in May.
It leaves a significant void to fill for a club widely praised for its smart recruitment with a high success rate over most of the last decade. But Steidten has impressed during his time at West Ham.
Sky Sport Germany’s Florian Plettenberg reports that Steidten is a candidate to become Liverpool sporting director. but he remains happy in his current role at the London Stadium and there is said to have been no direct contact with the Merseyside club at this stage.
Steidten was only appointed by West Ham last summer and has played an active role during that time in improving the squad by overseeing the captures of James Ward-Prowse, Edson Alvarez, Mohammed Kudus and latterly Kalvin Phillips.
Despite selling club captain Declan Rice ahead of the campaign, the Hammers are thriving, sitting sixth in the Premier League ahead of Newcastle United, Manchester United and Chelsea, and doing extraordinarily well in the Europa League after winning five of their six group games.
Liverpool are already thought to have met some early rejection in their search for Schmadtke’s successor after being turned down by revered former recruitment chief Michael Edwards. Credited with building the squad that was crowned European and then Premier League champions in 2019 and 2020 respectively, he stepped down as sporting director at Anfield in 2022.
Edwards initially took a break from football and hasn’t been tempted back into working directly for a club in such a role again after attracting attention from Manchester United and Chelsea. Instead, he opted to launch his own advisory firm in 2023.
Edwards was replaced at Liverpool by former assistant Julian Ward, who was particularly noted for his role in recruiting South American forwards Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez. But Ward spent just one season in charge, with his decision to walk away announced just a few months after taking over.
