May 23, (THEWILL)- West Ham United have appointed former Spain and Real Madrid manager, Julen Lopetegui, as their new head coach, the English Premier League club announced on Thursday. The 57-year-old Spaniard will take charge of the Hammers on July 1, replacing David Moyes, who left the London club at the end of the season.
Lopetegui, who previously managed Wolverhampton Wanderers in the EPL, expressed his enthusiasm for the new role. “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,” he said. “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.”
The experienced manager began his coaching career in Spain’s youth set-up before spells at Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish second tier and Portuguese club Porto. He took over as Spain’s national team coach in 2016 but was sacked just days before the 2018 World Cup after agreeing to join Real Madrid. His spell at the Bernabeu was short-lived, lasting only a few months. However, Lopetegui enjoyed success at Sevilla, leading the La Liga side to the Europa League title in 2020.
West Ham technical director, Tim Steidten, hailed Lopetegui as the club’s primary target, stating: “His career shows that, wherever he has coached, he has improved players and teams, and we are looking forward to seeing him work with our squad. Julen lives and breathes football. He thinks deeply about the game, he is tactically astute and he has shown he can adapt to work in different leagues, in different countries, with national teams and in each situation, he has shown his outstanding qualities.”
The Hammers finished ninth in the EPL standings with 52 points, missing out on European qualification. They enjoyed a promising start to the season but faltered in the second half, leading to Moyes’ departure. Lopetegui will be tasked with reviving the club’s fortunes when he takes over in July.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
