As Martin reported earlier West Ham United have made a key addition to their coaching staff with the appointment of Rui Barbosa as the club’s new goalkeeper coach. The move comes in response to the recent departures of Casper Ankergren and Linus Kandolin, leaving a notable gap in the Hammers’ backroom setup.
Barbosa, who had previously been retained by Nottingham Forest under Ange Postecoglou, found himself displaced following the announcement of Sean Dyche’s arrival at the City Ground. Dyche opted to bring in Billy Mercer to oversee goalkeeping duties, prompting Barbosa’s exit.
Dyche’s backroom team at Forest is taking shape with familiar faces Tony Loughlan, Steve Stone, and Ian Woan also joining him in support roles.
More of Nuno’s favoured coaching team may arrive at London Stadium
As a consequence it is expected that Pedro Silva and Julio Figora will link up with Nuno Espírito Santo, further solidifying his setup.
The club recently promoted Mark Robson, Steve Potts, Gerard Prenderville as first team coaches, with Billy Lepine as goalkeeper coach.
Barbosa’s appointment will allow Lepine to focus more time on the Academy set up, having been promoted to the Head of Academy Goalkeeping in 2020.
With West Ham sitting in 19th place in the Premier League, it came as a surprise that Nuno chose not to bring his usual backroom staff. Speculation suggests the board may have been reluctant to spend further, especially after already covering the costs associated with Potter and his team’s departure.
Hopefully he can teach them to come out for the ball when corners come in instead of relying on our nimby center backs who seem scared to head the bloody ball
Can’t work out why they need so many coaches, there’s only 20 players to coach and train, we’ve got about 8 coaches.
No wonder it costs a fortune to keep bringing all these in then sacking them every 6 months.
Captain Barbosa should get those land lovers shipshape in no time! 😂