West Ham have announced that Julen Lopetegui, the former manager of Real Madrid, will succeed David Moyes.
Earlier this month, it was confirmed that Moyes would be departing West Ham once his contract concludes. Moyes, who has been pivotal in maintaining the club’s stability, will hand over the reins to Lopetegui.
The seasoned manager brings with him an impressive track record, including tenures at Real Madrid and the Spanish national team.
Expressing his enthusiasm, Lopetegui 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.
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.
“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.”
Joining Lopetegui at West Ham are several prominent members from his previous coaching teams.
Pablo Sanz will take on the role of assistant head coach, while Oscar Caro will be the head of performance and assistant coach.
Notably, Xavi Valero will remain as the goalkeeper coach, continuing from the Moyes era.
The recruitment process was spearheaded by West Ham’s technical director, Tim Steidten, who carefully assessed numerous candidates before selecting Lopetegui as the perfect fit.
The club also held discussions with Ruben Amorim of Sporting Lisbon, who travelled to London for meetings, highlighting West Ham’s diligent approach in finding the best candidate.
Since his departure from Wolverhampton Wanderers before the 2023-24 season, Lopetegui has declined offers from several Premier League, La Liga, and Saudi Pro League clubs.
Bayern Munich also showed interest in him as a potential replacement for Thomas Tuchel, but the Spaniard turned them down as well.
West Ham supporters eagerly anticipate the new era under Lopetegui’s leadership, hoping for a significant improvement in the Premier League standings.