West Ham sack boss after 20 league games… as Potter ‘signs two-and-a-half year deal’
West Ham have sacked manager Julen Lopetegui after six months in charge following nine defeats and six wins in their first 20 Premier League games.
The Hammers spent a net £85.2m in the summer but are in 14th place, seven points above the relegation zone, after Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Manchester City.
“The first half of the 2024/25 season did not meet the club’s ambitions,” West Ham said in a statement, adding that they had acted to achieve their “objectives”.
A 5-0 defeat by Liverpool on December 29 extended their poor home form to one win in five games, having started the season with three consecutive defeats at the London Stadium.
West Ham United can confirm that head coach Julen Lopetegui has left the club today.
– West Ham United (@WestHam) January 8, 2025
Next West Ham manager: Graham Potter?
Graham Potter is widely expected to succeed Lopetegui The athletic one reports that the former Chelsea, Brighton & Hove Albion and Swansea City manager has agreed a two-and-a-half year deal and will be in charge of the FA Cup third round tie at Aston Villa on Friday (8pm GMT).
Englishman Potter, who is the clear favorite with bookmakers, reinvented Brighton’s style over three years and led the Seagulls to fourth place in the table after six league games in 2022/23, but his move to Chelsea ended after less than seven months, including 11 defeats in 31 games.
The Hammers return to Premier League action at home to ninth-placed Fulham on January 14 (7.30pm) before hosting 15th-placed Crystal Palace four days later (4pm).
Potter’s first league away game as manager could also take place at eighth-placed Villa on January 26 (4.30pm).
BREAKING: West Ham United have officially confirmed that they have sacked Julen Lopetegui as head coach 🚨 pic.twitter.com/bU7uSveVEL
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) January 8, 2025
Lopetegui was fired
Lopetegui’s planned press conference on Wednesday was canceled before the 58-year-old completed training in preparation for the trip to Villa Park.
Deputy coach Pablo Sanz, performance director Oscar Caro, chief analyst Juan Vicente Peinado, fitness coach Borja De Alba and technical coach Edu Rubio have also left West Ham.
The Spaniard, whose career includes spells as manager of Spain, Real Madrid, Porto, Wolves and Sevilla, was named as David Moyes’ successor in May but soon came under pressure.
Moyes won West Ham’s first European trophy since 1965 by winning the 2022/23 Conference League, as part of a second spell at the helm that lasted four and a half years.
