London, Jan 8 English club West Ham United on Wednesday sacked its Spanish head coach Julen Lopetegui following their heavy defeats in the Premier League against Manchester City and Liverpool FC, conceding nine goals and scoring only one in reply. "West Ham United can confirm that Head Coach Julen Lopetegui has today left the Club," the club informed in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
West Ham on Wednesday cancelled a planned news conference with Lopetegui, with the Spaniard's future at the club looking increasingly uncertain. The 58-year-old Lopetegui was due to speak to the media ahead of their FA Cup third-round tie with Aston Villa on Friday.
With Lopetegui out of the picture, the Hammers are in a discussion with former Brighton and Chelsea manager Graham Potter about taking his place, initially on a temporary basis.
The club is currently in 14th place in the Premier League table after having won six, drawn five, and lost nine of their 20 games.
While the Hammers went about their job, their former coach Harry Redknapp labelled the Hammers’ treatment of the Spaniard as disrespectful. "It's disrespectful [from West Ham] no doubt about that. If you want to get rid of him, you call him and say 'I'm sorry it's not worked out'...obviously talks have been going on with Graham Potter. He seems to be the number one target," he said.
"But it's not an easy place to manage West Ham. The expectation there is very high. So whoever goes there, not only do they have to produce a winning team, they've got to produce a team that plays what West Ham fans see as 'the West Ham way',” said Redknapp to BBC Sport.
Reports said, West Ham have also contacted former AC Milan manager Paulo Fonseca and former Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier, who is currently a coach in the Saudi Pro League.
West Ham United have signed Lopetegui as the Club’s new men’s head coach in May. His previous stints saw him take charge of Spain, Porto, Real Madrid, Sevilla, and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Lopetegui guided Sevilla to UEFA Europa League glory and Spain’s U21s and U19s to UEFA European Championship success.
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