West Ham ‘close to agreement’ with David Moyes’ replacement despite interest from Euro giants
According to reports, David Moyes is set to leave West Ham United as they are ‘close to an agreement’ with former Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui.
Moyes‘ future is uncertain heading into the summer as his current contract is due to expire at the end of this season.
The 60-year-old’s second spell as West Ham boss got started in 2019. They have become regulars in Europe and they won the Europa Conference League at the end of last season.
After back-to-back top-seven finishes in the Premier League, West Ham dropped to 14th last season as they focused on their run in the Europa Conference League.
The Hammers sold Declan Rice last summer but they have invested wisely with Mohammed Kudus and James Ward-Prowse among their standout additions.
West Ham have some brilliant attacking players in their squad with Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta shining this season but they have been hampered at times by Moyes’ negative approach.
Some supporters have grown tired of Moyes’ overly defensive style of play and feel this summer would be the right time to appoint a new manager.
Moyes’ chances of earning a new contract have been dealt a blow this week as they were knocked out of the Europa League by Bayer Leverkusen and were hammered 5-2 by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
Moyes out, Lopetegui in?
West Ham are eighth in the Premier League after their heavy loss to Palace but they are likely to drop a couple of places before the season ends as they have played more games than most of the teams around them.
According to a report from Italian outlet TuttoMercatoWeb, Lopetegui is set to become West Ham’s new manager.
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The respected coach has previously had spells in charge of Real Madrid and Spain but he has been out of work since leaving Wolves just before the start of this season.
Lopetegui did a superb job as he guided Wolves to Premier League safety last season but he left the club after butting heads with the board over recruitment.
It has been widely reported in recent months that Lopetegui is looking for another Premier League job and West Ham are reportedly well-placed to report him before next season.
TuttoMercatoWeb claim West Ham and Lopetegui are ‘close to an agreement’ despite interest from Serie A giants AC Milan.
It is noted that Lopetegui’ seemed to be one of the favourites to succeed Stefano Pioli’ at AC Milan but this ‘news was not received with particular enthusiasm by supporters’.
The report points out that AC Milan fans can ‘breathe a sigh of relief’ as Lopetegui ‘will not be the coach of the Rossoneri next season and could soon find an agreement with West Ham’.
They add: ‘The London club is ready to say goodbye to David Moyes and open a new cycle with Lopetegui, who should sign a three-year contract. In the afternoon there would have been new talks between the parties, which would have led to an acceleration of the negotiations.’
