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Julen Lopetegui has been appointed the new West Ham head coach.
Lopetegui replaces David Moyes, who departed his role at the London Stadium “by mutual consent” after his contract expired at the end of the Premier League season.
The 57-year-old will work closely with technical director Tim Steidten – who will have more control over the recruitment. When Moyes was reappointed in 2019, it was under the proviso that he would have a big say in recruitment and transfers.
But with Steidten’s appointment last summer, West Ham are moving towards a more European-based model.
“I feel that we have a fantastic platform,” Lopetegui said.
“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 – who has previously managed Spain, Porto, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Wolves will officially join the club on July 1. He has been out of work since leaving his post at Molineux on the eve of the 2023/24 season.
Steidten said: “We are very pleased to welcome Julen and his staff to our club. He was a stand-out candidate to become our head coach and I am personally delighted that we have chosen to work together. His career shows that, wherever he has coached, he has improved players and teams, and we are looking forward to seeing him work with our squad.