West Ham outmanoeuvre Bayern Munich to appoint Julen Lopetegui as new manager
The Hammers have moved to replace David Moyes with the Spaniard, who was a candidate for the Bayern Munich job this summer
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Your support makes all the difference.West Ham United have confirmed that Julen Lopetegui has taken over as manager after David Moyes’s exit at the end of the Premier League season.
Lopetegui has managed Spain and Real Madrid but was most recently with Wolves, stepping down on the eve of the new season in August 2023.
The 57-year-old previously guided Sevilla to the Europa League title in 2019-20, as well as consecutive finishes in the top four of Spain’s LaLiga.
Lopetegui, who was also linked with Bayern Munich, has signed a contract for an undisclosed length at the London Stadium and said: “I feel very happy, first of all, to be able to be part of the future of this big Club,” said Lopetegui. “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.
“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 we our commitment is 100 per cent 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.”
Lopetegui reportedly agreed to take charge of West Ham prior to the club announcing that Moyes would be departing at the end of his contract.
West Ham also held talks with Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, which the 39-year-old apologised for before committing himself to the newly crowned Portuguese champions.
Moyes led West Ham to their first European trophy since 1965 when they beat Fiorentina to lift the Europa Conference League last season.
The Scotsman also took West Ham to consecutive finishes of sixth and seventh in the Premier League, prior to lifting the club’s first major trophy in 43 years.
Lopetegui has been out of work since leaving Wolves last August, having guided the club to safety and a 13th place finish the previous term before becoming frustrated with a lack of transfer activity and resigning.
The Spaniard took charge of the national team following Euro 2016 but was sacked ahead of the 2018 World Cup after agreeing to become the next manager of Real Madrid following the tournament.
Lopetegui lasted just 14 games, however, and was sacked by Madrid following a heavy defeat to Barcelona in October 2018.
He achieved success with Sevilla, leading the club to a record-extending sixth Europa League title, but was sacked two years later following a poor start to the 2022-23 season.
Lopetegui’s Sevilla side were beaten by Moyes’s West Ham in the last-16 of the Europa League in March 2022.
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