Julen Lopetegui’s last waltz at West Ham United appears to be fast approaching: Two heavy defeats against Newcastle United and Arsenal have a certain inevitability about them and would make his position untenable after £140 million spent in the summer transfer window.
The names reported as shortlisted to replace Lopetegui have included the usual suspects – from the Special One to Potter, from Lampard to a plethora of German Bundesliga coaches, the possibility of a new appointment before the year is out has occupied dozens of column inches.
Claret and Hugh’s high ranking source at the club has made it clear that any new recruit needs to have Premier League experience and be available for free as West Ham don’t pay compensation to clubs.
In a major shift to this stance, if true, a report from teamtalk.com today suggests a new name has entered the frame for replacing Lopetegui. In all other senses bar the ‘compensation’ issue, this would be an ideal West Ham appointment.
The report confirms:” One name that has come up is Bournemouth manager, Andoni Iraola. The Cherries boss has been superb since his arrival and sources have stated he is being eyed up by a number of top sides. West Ham is seen as a very attractive option for managers due to the size of the club”
Andoni Iraola is, according to the report, now a prime target for David Sullivan’s plan to replace Lopetegui. Seriously impressive at Bournemouth, the young Spaniard would offer a breath of fresh air at London Stadium and could certainly repeat his successes on the south coast with this expensively assembled east London squad.
At Bournemouth, he did not take six months to change the style of the football on offer- a point not lost on the West Ham management, I’m sure, when Julen Lopetegui is still struggling to take the players forward in any recognisable style.
Iraola would need to be bought out of his Bournemouth contract – so Sullivan would need to wield the cheque book but compared with some of the waifs, strays and also ran’s mentioned to date as possible Hammers’ head coaches, this would be a massive step forward in the club’s evolution. We can but hope that the report has substance- and will keep our ears to the ground…
Clickbait nonsense. Why do you waste our time with such rubbish? Iraola obviously wouldn’t come and Sullivan knows that. Must do better C&H.
Sick of all the foreign coaches. Bring in Michael Carrick. Such an obvious appointment. Young English manager schooled in the West Ham way. Came through the West Ham academy. Who better to bring through the best academy players next year. Doing great things at Middlesbrough. Now go and get him before Manchester United snap him up after Amerim goes the same way as Ten Hag.
A quality manager will get the best out of whatever players he has and so in reality that IS the cheap option even if it costs 20 million . The Westham squad is top 8 if coached correctly .
Pep or Unai anyone?
Both looking for new challenges soon.
In Rafa Sullivan Trusts
Don’t believe a word of it Sullivan is to mean to pay for a manager why do you think we got stuck with this idiot JL every thing on the cheap is Sullivans moto
Poor journalism since Hugh passed (and he wasn’t great exactly).
Sullivan is not signing a manager that he has to pay compo for unless we are in the sh1t and we aren’t.
Never gonna happen
I think that Big Sam will be waiting for the phone to ring !!!
Seriously though , the Bournemouth manager looks a good bet. He at least has experience in the Premiership, not like the multitude of foreign names being mentioned. Let’s hope that the WHU board can make a correct decision or we’ll be up against Millwall et al next season.
The mentality of all concerned is so wrong. Crying about a £6m payout (true or not) when in reality £5m is small potatoes when talking PL football. Always considering that cost ahead of the potential benefits is wrong. Yes, some appointments would be change for the sake of it, but WHU have the resources in place to come up with a plan and coaching appointment that is a vast improvement on what they have now. A good decision now will reap massive benefits later, so just get on and make it.
It is not just Julen. His 12 staff will also have to go and be replaced. New manager will need time to bed-in all new assistants too.
Lots of small potatoes to consider. All the Julen picks will also drop in value as have all the discards.
Not an easy decision to make a change at the top.
Hope for the best.
Lopetegui needs to go and I do not understand why he has not gone already if it’s true that there’s no lump sum payoff, just pay his weekly wage for eighteen months or until he gains employment whichever is quicker.
Will Sullivan pay compensation for a manager when there’s unattached managers available ? I’d be surprised.
I cannot see Lopetegui turning anything around, there’s no sign of it, so I think he’ll be gone before long. I also cannot see anything other than an unattached manager coming in though.
My heart says Hoeness, Iraola would be decent, my head says Terzic.
Why does this site pedal such rubbish!
As others have said, sullivan doesn’t pay compensation!
99% of the stuff I read on here is false!
The compensation needed for a new manager isn’t coming out of Sullivans pocket . He’s never put his hands in his pockets and never will . The money needed is the clubs money .
Claret and Hugh’s high ranking source at the club has made it clear that any new recruit needs to have Premier League experience and be available for free as West Ham don’t pay compensation to clubs.
Don’t need a high ranking source to tell you that .we all know it anyway .
Absolute backwards mentality.
Don’t believe a word. It’ll be someone out of work – it always is.