West Ham United kick off their pre-season campaign today in an interesting encounter against Hungarian champions Ferencváros, marking the official beginning of the Julen Lopetegui era.
Following an intensive training week in Austria, the Hammers look to gain valuable game time against Ferencváros.
Ferencváros, already boasting four pre-season matches under their belt, prepare for another Champions League campaign under manager Pascal Jansen.
The Hungarian giants travel to Kitzbühel, Austria, for what promises to be a captivating clash against West Ham.
The first-team squad who have not been involved in international fixtures over June and early July returned to pre-season training last week, and could all be involved in Monday’s match at Sportstadion Langau.
The likes of Mohammed Kudus, Danny Ings, Kurt Zouma, James Ward-Prowse and Łukasz Fabiański could be involved, as could new summer signings Wes Foderingham, Maximilian Kilman and Luis Guilherme – who have all appeared to settle into life in their new home.
Pre-season also provides manager Lopetegui and his coaching staff to take a closer look at the developing talent in the Academy of Football, with ten of their number part of the group currently on the week-long training camp in Kitzbühel, Austria.
George Earthy and Callum Marshall were among the names to earn senior debuts last season, while Kaelan Casey made his Premier League debut, and each will be looking to impress the first-team coaching staff in the coming weeks.
West Ham supporters can watch Lopetegui’s debut live online via the club’s website, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook channels.
The coverage begins 15 minutes before kick-off, with a live blog starting 60 minutes beforehand on whufc.com.
You have only used “known” names and it would have been a more positive piece if you had a better knowledge of the U21’s. Undoubtedly one name that will come to the fore is the brilliant RB/RWB Junior Robinson.As the only RB with the Training squad Its almost a given he willl appear today and in more friendlies before Vlad returns
I met and spoke with Junior Robinson over Victoria Park around 6 or 7 years back just by the fact I was wearing a West Ham shirt and he was in training gear. He was with his sister or mother,and I wondered to him of the fact I was meeting a future star. I always thought he was a LB.
So excited what an opportunity to play a mixture of established, new and academy player’s at the start of a new era under Lopetegui and his coaching staff. Still a few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle missing and a couple of new additions will help to make it, hopefully, an exciting and memorable season and a domestic trophy or two!