West Ham confirm Graham Potter as new manager following Julen Lopetegui sacking

Evening Standard

·9 gennaio 2025

West Ham confirm Graham Potter as new manager following Julen Lopetegui sacking

Former Chelsea boss returns to Premier League management on a two-and-a-half year deal

West Ham have officially confirmed the appointment of Graham Potter as their new manager.

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The Hammers announced on Wednesday that Julen Lopetegui had been sacked after only six months in charge and a miserable first half of the season.

Potter, who has signed a two-and-a-half year contract with the east London club, returns to the Premier League for the first time after being sacked by Chelsea in April 2023.

The 49-year-old has been waiting for the right job to return to management and West Ham hope he could be the coach to turn their fortunes around.

Potter was one of the most highly-rated English managers in the game during his time at Swansea and Brighton but struggled to convince during less than seven months at Chelsea, albeit during a turbulent time for the club.

He will be joined at the London Stadium by assistant manager Bruno Saltor, plus first-team coaches Billy Reid and Narcis Pelach. West Ham also announced that Xavi Valero would remain the club’s goalkeeping coach.

“I am delighted to be here. It was important to me that I waited until a job came along that I felt was right for me, and equally that I was the right fit for the Club I am joining. That is the feeling I have with West Ham United,” Potter said.

“My conversations with the Chairman and the Board have been very positive and constructive, we share the same values of hard work and high energy to create the solid foundations that can produce success, and we are on the same wavelength in terms of what is needed in the short-term and then how we want to move the Club forward in the medium to long term.

“West Ham United is a huge Club, at the heart of London, with a tremendous fanbase and great support all around the world. I saw the scenes that followed their Europa Conference League victory in 2023 and it was clear that this is a Club with everything in place to become consistently successful, both on and off the pitch.

“The Club have made a lot of good progress in recent years and ensured there are some very strong foundations in place to build on. You don’t win a European trophy by fluke – there has to be a good bedrock at a football club for that to happen, and the challenge now is to take that on and build the next steps, to develop a team and a Club that the supporters can be proud of.”

Potter’s first game in charge of West Ham comes quickly on Friday night, when they travel to face Premier League rivals Aston Villa in the third round of the FA Cup.

Another trip to Villa Park in the top-flight on January 26 is preceded by a pair of home league London derbies against Fulham and Crystal Palace, with Potter facing a reunion with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on February 3 before more all-capital clashes with Brentford and Arsenal.

Former Wolves, Real Madrid, Spain and Sevilla coach Lopetegui left West Ham sitting 14th in the Premier League table and seven points above the relegation zone, having won just six of his first 20 matches since succeeding David Moyes in a summer in which the club invested heavily in a raft of new signings.

Nine of those were losses, including back-to-back thrashings by Liverpool and Manchester City that followed a brief upturn in fortunes in which the Irons managed to beat both Southampton and Wolves and draw with Brighton and Bournemouth.