A seismic shift appears to be underway at West Ham United — and all roads now lead to the inevitable influence of one man.
West Ham’s problems are multi-faceted and complex with a range of issues from a training ground that is inferior to most in the Premier League to a stadium that simply doesn’t feel like home.
The ownership is taking the vast majority of criticism right now – and rightly so as the ones who ultimately make all the key decisions.
The current mess West Ham find themselves in is a result of a multitude of failings.
But the woeful performances on the pitch over the last 22 months can be directly linked to one of the club’s single biggest issues, recruitment.
Seismic shift behind the scenes at West Ham confirmed
The Hammers are paying a heavy price for years of woeful transfer dealings.
An incoherent, scattergun approach to signings was meant to be addressed when West Ham appointed Tim Steidten as technical director.
Instead the German had a few picks, Julen Lopetegui was afforded some of his own choices and majority owner David Sullivan his too.
For example Steidten chose the likes of Jean-Clair Todibo, Luis Guilherme and Niclas Fullkrug while Lopetegui pushed for Max Kilman and Guido Rodriguez.
Sullivan was reportedly behind the deal to sign Crysencio Summerville from Leeds for £26m.
West Ham’s majority owner is being urged to sell up or stand down from the day-to-day running of the club by fed-up fans.
Using the initials of vice-chair Karren Brady and Sullivan, ‘No More BS’ is the slogan for the campaign of activism being led by prominent fan group Hammers United.
One of the many grievances supporters have is with Sullivan’s influence and involvement in recruitment.
The Hammers chief reprised his role as West Ham’s de facto director of football following Steidten’s dismissal.
He is known to favour using a select few agents to help do deals rather than the club targeting specific players based on what the team needs or for the future.
West Ham paying heavy price for poor recruitment
Barry Silkman and Will Salthouse are among Sullivan’s trusted agents he prefers to use when signing players.
Salthouse, who is friends with Sullivan’s sons Dave and Jack, has been particularly influential in recent years.
He brokered the Aaron Wan-Bissaka deal and is believed to have played a big role in helping West Ham land Jarrod Bowen ahead of Newcastle and Crystal Palace back in January 2020.
Some fans have reservations about the way transfer business has been conducted using agents, though, with the Callum Wilson deal in the summer a case in point.
West Ham desperately needed to go out and sign a quality, pacy, young striker to lead the line for years to come.
Instead they signed ageing, injury-prone Wilson – who is with Salthouse’s Unique Sports Group agency.
The club’s approach to recruitment has formed one of seven pillars of discontent raised by supporters protesting against the board.
Fans are demanding changes from top to bottom, including to the way the club conducts transfer business.
Now a seismic shift behind the scenes at West Ham is confirmed and all roads now point to one man.
There has been a huge development in the corridors of power at the London Stadium.
Because a leading confidant of Hammers chief Sullivan has confirmed the club will stop using Salthouse for deals.
All roads point to one man as Hammers ‘freeze out’ Salthouse
Sean Whetstone has revealed the Wilson deal and arrival of Nuno Espirito Santo has proved a tipping point for relations between West Ham and Salthouse.
Now Salthouse faces being ‘frozen out’ of West Ham’s recruitment.
“Will Salthouse’s influence at West Ham is reported to be very limited after the completion of the Callum Wilson deal over the summer,” Whetstone said on X.
“Nuno likes to work with certain agents and Salthouse with his Unique Sports Management company could be frozen out this winter insiders claim.”
When West Ham were in talks to appoint Nuno as Graham Potter’s replacement, Hammers News revealed there were two big conditions Sullivan had to agree to.
One of those was that super-agent Jorge Mendes – Nuno’s agent and right-hand man when it comes to recruitment – was involved in transfers.
A big reason for Nuno’s fall-out with Evangelos Marinakis at Forest was due to Edu being brought in to oversee recruitment with Mendes being sidelined.
Sullivan’s agreement to allow Mendes a say on West Ham’s transfers was the real reason Nuno looked so happy when taking over in east London.
Now the world famous Portuguese agent, who runs his Gestifute agency boasting some of the top talents in world football, looks set to have a growing influence at West Ham.
With Salthouse being ‘frozen out’, all roads point to Mendes as the man helping grease the wheels for West Ham deals.
Three exciting Mendes clients look ideal for West Ham in January as the club looks to bolster Nuno’s squad.
How that works out remains to be seen.
But at least Mendes is aligned with the manager and what he wants rather than being aligned with the owner.
