Julen Lopetegui replaces David Moyes as new West Ham manager

LONDON: Premier League club West Ham United announced Julen Lopetegui as their new manager for the upcoming season on Thursday following their loss to champions Manchester City in the last encounter of the 2023/24 edition.

Lopetegui replaced David Moyes as manager and will launch his tenure officially from July 1.

The 57-year-old also had an incredible career as a coach so far. The experienced Spaniard took Sevilla to UEFA Europa League glory and Spain's U21s and U19s to UEFA European Championship.

Lopetegui is generally regarded for his straightforward football philosophy, adaptable tactical approach, competitive nature, and man-management abilities.

The recruitment of the experienced Spaniard as Head Coach is the next step in West Ham United's new and expanding football strategy, which got prominence in July 2023 with the arrival of Tim Steidten as Technical Director.

While talking at West Ham TV, Lopetegui expressed his feelings after been appointed as the new manager of the club.

"I feel very happy, first of all, to be able to be part of the future of this big Club. We will try to put our stamp on the Club. I feel that we have a fantastic platform. 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," said Lopetegui as quoted by West Ham United official website.

"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 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," the Spaniard said.

"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," the 57-year-old signed off saying.