West Ham board meet to discuss immediate future of under-pressure Julen Lopetegui

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Evening Standard

·4 décembre 2024

West Ham board meet to discuss immediate future of under-pressure Julen Lopetegui

Some of the decision-makers believed to have doubts over 58-year-old

The West Ham board are due to meet to decide the immediate future of manager Julen Lopetegui.

Vidéos OneFootball

The 58-year-old is at risk of being sacked after the club’s poor form continued with Tuesday night’s 3-1 defeat at Leicester City.

The club’s board will consider all options, but there is understood to be doubt from some members over whether Lopetegui is the right man to take the Hammers forward.

Some feel the required progress has not been made since Lopetegui joined in July following David Moyes’s departure. The Scot had won the Europa Conference League in the second of three seasons in European competition with West Ham, but some supporters grew tired of his style of football and he left upon the expiry of his contract.

Chairman David Sullivan has a history of sticking by his managers, but it remains to be seen whether Lopetegui will be afforded the same time to turn things around.

Edin Terzic, the ex-Borussia Dortmund boss, former Brighton and Chelsea manager Graham Potter, and ex-Porto head coach Sergio Conceicao are among the candidates being considered if the Hammers do part ways with Lopetegui. All three are out of work.

Also between jobs is the former Denmark boss Kasper Hjulmand, who is understood to be admired by West Ham’s technical director Tim Steidten.

The immediate decision confronting the board is whether Lopetegui takes charge of the club for Monday night’s home match against his former club, Wolves.

West Ham, who sit 14th in the league, then face Bournemouth and Brighton before Christmas, before visiting Southampton on Boxing Day.

When asked whether he fears he may lose his job after the Leicester defeat, Lopetegui said he “understand[s] the question”, but insisted: “The only thing I’m worried about now is to go to the training session tomorrow and to prepare the players for the next challenge.”

But it is now possible the club will decide not to give Lopetegui the chance to put things right against Wolves on Monday.

West Ham were the eighth-highest net spenders in world football this summer, but former Spain and Real Madrid manager Lopetegui has only been able to mastermind four league wins from 14 matches, with the Hammers shipping 27 goals along the way.

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