West Ham United are eyeing a move for Aston Villa’s Johan Lange as they consider appointing a new director of football.
Aston Villa sporting director Johan Lange is now on the West Ham United radar as they look to replace Mark Noble.
That is according to 90Min, who claim that Lange is ‘under consideration’ for a position with the Hammers.
Noble only came in as West Ham’s sporting director in January but is already being moved too a different role.
That means West Ham now want to make a new appointment to aid their transfer business moving forward.
Lange is one name on West Ham’s wish list as they eye up a raid on their Premier League rivals.
Lange previously served as assistant manager to Stale Solbakken at Wolverhampton Wanderers before managing Lyngby.
The Dane became Copenhagen’s technical director before taking on a similar role with Aston Villa in 2020.
Lange oversaw signings like Emiliano Martinez, Matty Cash and Ollie Watkins helped Villa move forward and have boosted Lange’s reputation.
Johan Lange may be tempted to leave Aston Villa
In normal circumstances, the idea of Lange leaving Villa for the same post at West Ham could seem strange.
Villa are incredibly ambitious and pushing for European action under Unai Emery – why would Lange want to leave?
Well, Villa have been trying to bring in a new transfer chief this summer in Barcelona’s Mateu Alemany.
Emery was looking to land his fellow Spaniard in an ‘unspecified senior football role’ at Villa Park.
Alemany was serving as Barca’s director of football, so you have to imagine he would have played a key role in Villa’s transfer process.
That may have taken some power away from Lange, even if the plan was for them to work together.
Alemany has ended up staying with Barcelona but the situation may have opened a slight glimmer of hope for West Ham to snatch Lange this summer.
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