West Ham news: A look at the career of new Irons boss Julen Lopetegui

Julen Lopetegui is planning to ‘make a big noise’ having been officially unveiled as David Moyes’ successor as West Ham manager.

The Spaniard faced the press on Thursday but won’t officially take the reins at the London Stadium until July 1.

He takes over a West Ham side who have just finished ninth in the 2023/24 Premier League table after securing 14 wins in 38 games, drawing 10 and losing 14 league matches.

And former Real Madrid manager Lopetegui feels he has a good foundation to build on next season, telling the press on Thursday: "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, so we are really happy about this.

"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 the best level and to achieve our aims.

“I assure the fans that they are going to be key in all our achievements."

Here, Sports News Blitz takes a detailed look at Lopetegui's playing and managerial career so far.

Playing Career

Position: Goalkeeper (a fancy way of saying "the guy who stands in the way of goals and dreams").

Early Career: Lopetegui kicked off his journey with the youth teams of Real Sociedad and Real Madrid. He probably spent more time on the bench than his couch at home.

Real Madrid: Made his professional debut, but mostly kept the bench warm at Castilla.

Other Clubs: Took his talents (and his gloves) to CD Logroñés, FC Barcelona, and Rayo Vallecano, collecting jerseys like they were Pokémon cards.

National Team: Earned one cap for Spain and even got to witness the 1994 World Cup from the best seat in the house – the bench.

Managerial Career

Early Years

Rayo Vallecano: His managerial debut was a bit like trying to assemble IKEA furniture without instructions – a bit of a mess, and he was let go before he could finish.

Real Madrid (Youth Teams): Worked with the kids, probably because they listen better than adult players.

Spain National Teams

Spain U19, U20, and U21: Found his groove with the youth squads, winning the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in 2012 and the Under-21 Championship in 2013.

Apparently, the secret to success is managing players who still call their moms for advice.

FC Porto

2014-2016: Took a shot at FC Porto. Made it to the Champions League quarter-finals before the magic ran out and he was shown the door.

Spain National Team

2016-2018: Took charge of the Spanish national team and had them unbeaten in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Then, in a plot twist straight out of a soap opera, he was fired right before the World Cup because he couldn’t keep his new job at Real Madrid a secret.

Real Madrid

2018: His time at Real Madrid was shorter than a Netflix free trial. A string of poor results, including a 5-1 El Clásico thrashing, and he was out the door.

Sevilla FC

2019-2022: Found his happy place at Sevilla FC, winning the 2019-2020 UEFA Europa League. Proved he could still make magic happen, much to everyone's surprise.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

2022-2023: Took on the challenge of managing Wolves in the Premier League - but didn’t even get to the first game - and left his post at Molineux on the eve of the 2023/24 campaign.

Summary

Julen Lopetegui’s career is like that of a determined cat – he always lands on his feet.

As a player, he saw the top of Spanish football, mostly from the bench.

As a manager, he's had a wild ride with some serious highs, like winning the Europa League with Sevilla, and some dramatic lows, like his blink-and-you-missed-it stint at Real Madrid.

Through it all, Lopetegui’s story is a testament to resilience, adaptability, and the belief that, no matter how many times you fall, there’s always another match to win.

West Ham fans will be hoping he wins lots of matches - but let’s hope he makes it into the dugout for the first game of the season this time.

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