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West Ham have finally confirmed Julen Lopetegui as their new head coach after parting ways with David Moyes.
The Spaniard, who has been out of work since leaving Wolves last summer, has signed a two-year contract with the option of an extra year.
Mail Sport revealed earlier this month that Lopetegui was in advanced talks to replace Moyes, who left the club following the expiration of his contract last week.
‘I feel very happy, first of all, to be able to be part of the future of this big club,’ Lopetegui said following his hiring. ‘We will try to put our stamp on the club.
‘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.
Julen Lopetegui has been announced as West Ham’s new manager on an initial two-year deal
The 59-year-old Spaniard is understood to have always been West Ham’s first choice
Lopetegui replaces David Moyes at the Hammers – who managed his last game on Sunday
‘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 we 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 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.’
Lopetegui, who has had spells at Sevilla, Real Madrid, Porto and the Spanish national team, is understood to have always been West Ham’s first choice – despite the club…