West Ham transfer chief Tim Steidten emerges as a leading candidate to become Liverpool sporting director… with the Hammers braced for an approach after the transfer window

West Ham are braced for an approach from Liverpool to poach highly-rated sporting director Tim Steidten after the January transfer window.

The Premier League leaders are in the market for a new sporting director after Jorg Schmadtke announced he will leave the club at the end of the week. The German is one of five high-profile departures at Anfield, including his close ally Jurgen Klopp and three coaches.

Liverpool have already seen former sporting director Michael Edwards reject the chance to return to the club in a new role, after Mike Gordon, president of owners Fenway Sports Group, floated the idea of him occupying a more senior role to oversee the restructure of the club.

But West Ham’s Steidten has emerged as a leading candidate to occupy the sporting director role, alongside Bournemouth’s Richard Hughes. Mail Sport understands no official approaches have been made yet as that would be bad etiquette during the final days of a transfer window.

The Hammers, though, are braced for interest in their lauded transfer chief, who only joined the east London club in the summer but was heralded for replacing Declan Rice with a flurry of shrewd signings including James Ward-Prowse, Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez.

Current Reds sporting director Jorg Schmadtke will leave at the end of the January window

Schmadtke is one of five high-profile departures with Jurgen Klopp leaving in the summer

Steidten, 44, also worked at Bayer Leverkusen and was responsible for bringing top Reds target Xabi Alonso to the club as manager, plus several key players leading their Bundesliga title tilt. At Werder Bremen before that, he signed the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Serge Gnabry.

David Moyes and Steidten started on the wrong foot but have patched up…