Lopetegui vows to bring ‘big noise’ to West Ham
Julen Lopetegui has pledged to make a “big, big noise” at West Ham United after his appointment as successor to David Moyes was confirmed yesterday.
Lopetegui, who has signed a twoyear contract with the option of a further year, will officially begin work as West Ham’s head coach on July 1 after turning down other offers since leaving Wolves in August last year.
“We will try to put our stamp on the club,” said the Spaniard. “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. 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.
“We came here with the idea and the thought to make a big, big noise. We are excited by this challenge. Of course, we are going to do our best to help the club and the team to achieve our aims. I assure the fans that they are going to be key in all our achievements.”
A former Spain and Real Madrid manager, Lopetegui won the Europa League with Sevilla in 2020.
Tim Steidten, West Ham’s technical director, said: “Julen lives and breathes football. He thinks deeply about the game, he is tactically astute and he has shown he can adapt to work in different leagues, in different countries, with national teams, and in each situation he has shown his outstanding qualities.”