West Ham fear technical director Tim Steidten in running to replace Edu at Arsenal

West Ham United fear their technical director Tim Steidten could be in the running to replace Edu at Arsenal.

Edu shocked Arsenal earlier this week by announcing he was quitting his role as sporting director. The Brazilian is on gardening leave and has a six-month notice period which means he will still be free to take up any new job in time for next summer’s transfer window. That may help explain the timing of his decision.

Edu is set for a new role as a global head of football in a multi-club structure although a deal is still to be signed. Arsenal were willing to offer him a pay rise to stay and while adamant that money was not behind his departure, it is believed that Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is ready to pay him upwards of £5 million a year. As well as Forest, Marinakis’s portfolio includes Greek club Olympiacos and Portugal’s Rio Ave.

Arsenal will take their time before deciding how to replace Edu. While the decision has come as a surprise, the club are adamant it will not affect the way they operate as they already have a strong executive team in place.

Nevertheless the departure has come at a bad time in Arsenal’s season with Wednesday’s Champions League loss away to Inter Milan their third defeat in six games in all competitions. They now face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday desperately in need of a win to get their Premier League title challenge back on track.

There is little concern with the January transfer window looming that Arsenal’s plans will be affected and the club will rather take their time, especially if they are to consider external candidates. In saying that, it will also take time to extricate someone from a rival club if that is the way forward.

Jason Ayto, the well-regarded assistant sporting director who has been Edu’s right-hand man, is set for a wider role while co-chairman Josh Kroenke and key executives Tim Lewis and Richard Garlick decide with manager Mikel Arteta on how best to move forward.

Part of the discussions will be whether to make a like-for-like replacement or to redefine the role. For example, will it involve, as with Edu, the academy and women’s team or solely focus on the men’s?

Edu was only promoted from technical director to sporting director in 2022, having joined Arsenal three years earlier, to reflect what a good job he had done. He had a close working relationship with Arteta who said prior to the Inter game that the pair had a “special chemistry”, while adding that Edu’s departure will not affect “the plan and the vision” for Arsenal.

Executives are already scheduled to fly to the United States for talks with the club’s owner Stan Kroenke during next week’s international break. The discussions have nothing to do with Edu’s decision and were in the diary before that was announced on Monday.

However, given the news, how Arsenal now proceed will surely be a discussion point. If Steidten does become a candidate it will be something of a surprise given the German’s track record at West Ham since he was appointed the club’s technical director in July 23. The 45-year-old is in charge of player recruitment and scouting, working closely with sporting director Mark Noble. Steidten had previously fulfilled a similar role at Bayer Leverkusen.

With David Moyes’ departure in the summer, Steidten gained more control. West Ham spent more than £100 million on new nine signings but have not seen any improvement with scrutiny growing over a number of underperforming players. Some, such as Guido Rodriguez, a free transfer from Real Betis, were signings wanted by the new head coach Julen Lopetegui. Others were identified by Steidten who is front and centre as to what is happening at West Ham.

However, it is understood that if Arsenal or any other club made an offer to hire him, West Ham would still want him to stay.

There have also been suggestions that while Steidten agreed with the hiring of Lopetegui, the Spaniard was not his preferred first-choice, although bringing in Manchester United-bound Rúben Amorim from Sporting was always unrealistic.

Lopetegui is under pressure after a disappointing start to the season but Telegraph Sport understands he will remain in charge whatever the result of Saturday’s Premier League home game against Everton.

Even if West Ham lose, Lopetegui is expected to be in the dugout for West Ham’s first fixture after the international break against Newcastle United.

West Ham nevertheless remain concerned over the start to the campaign with the club just six points above the relegation places after a series of poor performances.

There are undoubtedly mitigating factors to the difficult start – and not least because West Ham have endured a poor run of results which stretches back to the start of this year. But while the hierarchy have a strong track record of keeping faith in managers, and reviewing the situation at the end of each season, Lopetegui needs some positive results and performances to strengthen his position.