Premier League
West Ham Confirms Julen Lopetegui As New Head Coach
West Ham United has announced that Julen Lopetegui is the new manager, succeeding David Moyes at the end of the Premier League season.
Julen Lopetegui, who has previously managed Spain and Real Madrid, most recently had a time with Wolves before resigning just before the start of the new season in August 2023.
The 57-year-old previously led Sevilla to the Europa League title in 2019/2020 and achieved consecutive top-four finishes in Spain’s La Liga.
Lopetegui, who had been rumored to be a target for Bayern Munich, has inked a contract of undisclosed duration at the London Stadium and stated, “I feel very happy, first of all, to be able to be part of the future of this big Club, We will try to put our stamp on the Club. I feel that we have a fantastic platform. I think the last few years have been very good years to have this base, of course, but my ambition as a coach is always to be better and better, to achieve more and bigger aims, and to encourage and improve the players, the team, and to compete because football is about this to compete. We are very ambitious about this.”
He continued, “I am where I want to be. I am here because I want to be here and for us, it was a fantastic day when we closed our agreement here because our commitment is 100 percent to be here. We had other opportunities but I am very happy that West Ham chose me because I chose West Ham too, so we are really happy about this.”
“We came here with the idea and the thought to make a big, big noise. That’s why we came here, and we are excited by this challenge. Of course, we are going to do our best to help the Club and the team to achieve to achieve the best level and to achieve our aims. I assure the fans that they are going to be key in all our achievements.”
Reports indicate that Lopetegui had agreed to assume the managerial role at West Ham before the club officially announced Moyes’s departure at the end of his contract.
Additionally, discussions were held with Ruben Amorim from Sporting Lisbon, with the 39-year-old apologizing for such talks before fully committing himself to the newly crowned Portuguese champions.
Under David Moyes’ management, West Ham secured their first European trophy since 1965 by defeating Fiorentina to claim the Europa Conference League title last season. The Scottish manager also guided West Ham to consecutive sixth and seventh-place finishes in the Premier League before clinching the club’s first significant trophy in 43 years.
After departing Wolves in August last year, Lopetegui has been without a managerial position. He steered the club to safety and a 13th-place finish in the season before his departure but left due to dissatisfaction with the limited transfer actions.
Lopetegui assumed the role of the national team’s head coach after Euro 2016 but was dismissed before the 2018 World Cup when it emerged that he had agreed to take over as Real Madrid’s manager post the tournament.
Lopetegui’s time at Real Madrid was short-lived, lasting only 14 games before he was sacked after a significant loss to Barcelona in October 2018. Despite his subsequent success with Sevilla, where he guided the team to its sixth Europa League title, he was let go two years later due to a disappointing beginning to the 2022-23 season.
