Super Steidten’s Five Year Hammers Plan

West Ham’s director of football, Tim Steidten, has spoken about his five-year plan to establish the Hammers as a European force.

Such talk is music to the ears of most Irons fans, but it did leave me wondering what to expect if this is only year one of the project.

So far, West Ham have signed eight players in the current transfer window, and negotiations for PSG’s Carlos Soler are well advanced. If player sales go as planned and the likes of Danny Ings and Nayef Aguerd can be offloaded, at least one more player could arrive, making it a total of ten summer signings.

What the plan will be next season is anyone’s guess, but if this window is just the first part of a multi-stage process, Hammers fans are in for a rollercoaster ride.

Steidten has already established a data-driven analytics department and expanded scouting to encompass a more global reach. There is also a more measured approach to loaning out our outstanding young players, with Mark Noble reportedly handpicking Bristol City as George Earth’s loan destination.

With profit and sustainability regulations being more robustly enforced, good housekeeping has never been more important. For too long, West Ham have haemorrhaged money on players like Nikola Vlasic and Felipe Anderson with little or no long-term strategy.

We’ve heard a lot about projects and ten-year plans before, of course, whether it was the Icelandic’s or Lady Brady promising a world-class football stadium with affordable football. We’ve endured our fair share of empty promises.

But things seem somewhat different with Steidten, Noble, and Lopetegui steering the ship. There is a five-year rebuild plan afoot, and I, for one, am looking forward to it.