West Ham United sporting director Tim Steidten has labelled links with the Liverpool job as an "honour" but has confirmed that nobody from the Reds has been in touch with him yet.
The Reds have undergone a couple of reshuffles in the sporting director department over the past couple of years, as the long-serving Michael Edwards stepped down from his role in the summer of 2022.
Julian Ward - Edwards's right-hand man - took over from his former colleague, but mere months after stepping into the void, the 42-year-old also decided to resign from his post; a move which left Liverpool dumbfounded.
For the summer transfer window, Liverpool hired Jorg Schmadtke, who oversaw the Reds' successful midfield overhaul with the acquisitions of Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch.
However, Schmadtke was never expected to remain in office for the long-term, and Liverpool confirmed last month that the 59-year-old would be departing once the January transfer window closed for business in England.
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Ahead of the reopening of the transfer window in the summer, the Liverpool hierarchy are vetting candidates to become their new sporting director, and they allegedly want to make an appointment before turning their attention to finding a new head coach.
West Ham transfer guru Steidten is believed to be on the Reds' shortlist, and speaking to Sky Deutschland, the 44-year-old admitted that he was flattered by the links and refused to rule out a future move to Anfield.
"I've heard that I am supposed to be on the list at Liverpool. It is one of the biggest clubs in the world, so it's an honour. But so far nobody from Liverpool has contacted me," Steidten said.
"I generally feel very comfortable at West Ham. I quickly realised how intense this league is. Accordingly, we signed the right players in the last transfer windows. The squad is strong, so we can achieve our goals.
"I am looking forward to the next few weeks and months until the end of the season. Of course, we are already planning the next window (at West Ham). What happens in the future, we will see."
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Following a modest playing career, Steidten entered football administration with Werder Bremen, serving as both their head of scouting and director of football before joining Bayer Leverkusen in 2019.
While in office at the BayArena, Steidten welcomed Xabi Alonso - the current frontrunner to succeed Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool head coach - to the club, but he left midway through the 2022-23 season ahead of his West Ham appointment.
During his first transfer window as West Ham's technical director, where the Hammers sold Declan Rice to Arsenal for £105m, Steidten oversaw the arrivals of Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez from Ajax, as well as capturing Dinos Mavropanos and James Ward-Prowse.
West Ham's new arrivals have helped the Irons amass 36 points from 24 fixtures to sit eighth in the Premier League table, although they were humiliated 6-0 by London rivals Arsenal last time out, and loan signing Kalvin Phillips has struggled to find his feet since joining from Manchester City last month.
Meanwhile, Liverpool retained their two-point lead over Arsenal and Manchester City by beating Burnley 3-1 in gameweek 24, and the Reds kick off this weekend's action away to Brentford on Saturday lunchtime.
Ben Knapton
