Candidates to become West Ham’s new Director of Football
- Michael Oliver
- @MichaelOIiver
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Many West Ham fans are unhappy with the recruitment process at the club and have been for some time, but it appears as if changes are being made.
In light of the recent fan protests during the 3-0 defeat to Burnley, David Sullivan is to step down from his involvement in signing players as the club will look to appoint a Director of Football to oversee the day-to-day running of the club, including all things recruitment.
This has been a long time coming for West Ham but the question remains: Who could they hire for this role? A lot depends on whether they can retain their Premier League status, but we take a look at a number of potential candidates for the role.
Marcel Brands, PSV
Brands has taken PSV from being an afterthought in the Eredivisie to being perennial challengers in recent seasons.
Overseeing the clubs transfer policy, Brands has strongly looked at the recruitment of talented young players along with Head of Youth Development Art Lengeler.
Santiago Arias and Hirving Lozano are just two of the success stories that Brands has brought to the club in recent seasons, both of whom have played huge roles of late.
Both Everton and Chelsea have been linked with making approaches to recruit Brands to take up a similar role at their clubs, but West Ham should get themselves into the mix.
Rui Costa, Benfica
Many will remember the Portuguese icon for his exceptional playing career, but after retiring from football with Benfica in 2008, Costa was immediately appointed as their director of football.
Overseeing the club’s transfer strategy, academy management and squad development, Costa’s impact at the club behind the scenes cannot be understated.
Coming in after a period of Porto dominance, Costa has helped see the balance of power switch in Liga NOS as Benfica have won five of the nine league titles that have been up for grabs during his reign and are well in the mix to make that six.
Ramires, Javi Garcia, Nemanja Matic, Rodrigo, Nico Gaitan, Axel Witsel, Lazar Markovic, Jan Oblak, Ederson.
These are just a handful of the names that Costa has brought to the club, overseen the development of and then sold for huge profit. The ability to pick out top talent is something West Ham need.
Les Reed, Southampton
When Les Reed made the controversial call to replace Nigel Adkins with Mauricio Pochettino in 2013, few could imagine the impact this move would have.
Reed’s ability to confidently select manager’s who can work with his involvement in the running of the club has been vital to Southampton’s success in recent years.
His official title of Head of Football Development and Support encompasses management of the academy, the scouting network, talent identification and recruitment, sports science, equipment, and facilities – Reeds likes to take a hands-on approach and would complete overhaul West Ham for the better.
Steve Walsh, Everton
Steve Walsh oversaw player recruitment at Leicester and was responsible for the signings of Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante, three players who carried the Foxes to the Premier League title in 2015/16.
Walsh’s sole responsibility is to identify and recruit talent to the first-team, while also hand-picking young players from the academy who have what it takes to make the step up.
While his recruitment at Everton has been scrutinised of late, the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Ademola Lookman, who went on to play major roles for England in their U20 World Cup triumph, were identified by Walsh.
Christian Heidel, Schalke
Heidel began his sporting director career with German minnows Mainz but he oversaw their rise to the Bundesliga.
The German’s greatest asset is perhaps being able to identify the right manager to take the club forward.
In 2001, Heidel talked a veteran defender by the name of Jurgen Klopp to step away from the pitch and into the dugout and he went on to take Mainz into the Bundesliga in 2004. However, their stay in the German top flight was short-lived and they were relegated in 2007, but Klopp’s impact was great enough for Dortmund to come in for him, and later Liverpool.
Heidel tasked another young German manager with taking Mainz back into the Bundesliga and hand-picked a young, inexperienced Thomas Tuchel to do the job, which he succeeded in doing.
Now enjoying a great run with Schalke, Heidel is further cementing himself as one of the best directors in the game.
West Ham should go about appointing a Director of Football before finalising the future of David Moyes and allow them to select the manager they want, and Heidel has a track record of making the right call.
Luis Campos, Lille
Campos was the man behind Monaco’s rise towards becoming Ligue 1 champions.
The former Real Madrid scout became the club’s chief talent spotter and helped bring the likes of Bernardo Silva, Anthony Martial, Thomas Lemar and James Rodriguez to the club, with all four players completing lucrative transfers (or being touted for them) across Europe in recent years.
After joining Lille in 2016, Campos has brought more top young talent to European football and is considered as one of the best in the continent.
Damien Comolli
Damien Comolli began life as a scout at Arsenal before taking on Director of Football roles at Saint Etienne, Tottenham and Liverpool.
Arguably most known for his two-year spell at Anfield, Comolli was entrusted with player recruitment and was hit and miss with his signings.
Luis Suarez, Raul Meireles and Jordan Henderson all proved to be excellent buys but flops such as Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam to name just a few do mar his record.
Matthias Sammer
Sammer has a storied career in German football at club and international level and was most recently the Sporting CEO of Bayern Munich between 2012 and 2016.
Bayern were immensely dominant during this spell and are regarded as one of the best run clubs in Europe, especially behind the scenes.
Sammer ensured that Bayern were always prepared for the future and were never left wanting, especially in the player personnel department.