West Ham United demand already set for Julen Lopetegui ahead of next season
Frank McAvennie has implored incoming West Ham United head coach Julen Lopetegui to deliver European qualification next season and beyond.
The Hammers have qualified for European competition in each of the last three seasons – winning the Europa Conference League in the process – but will miss out this term as they are guaranteed to finish ninth in the Premier League.
And McAvennie – speaking exclusively to West Ham Zone – believes Lopetegui must get the club back onto the continental stage and keep them there.
“David’s left a legacy that they’ve got to fight for Europe,” McAvennie said. “That’s what was promised when they went to the London Stadium. And David brought that to them. It didn’t matter [how] he got there, he got that for them.
“When they asked everyone to leave Upton Park, the Boleyn Ground, they didn’t say, ‘We might be playing crap football but we’ll get you into Europe’ – that wasn’t part of the deal. But what they did say was, ‘We’ll get you into Europe’ and that’s what David Moyes did.
“Now this guy [Lopetegui] is going to come in and he’s got to bring in his own people, but there’s no way he’s not looked at all these football games and he’ll know exactly who he wants now.
“And I hope that the owners can give him that because David’s taken us there and they’ve got to kick on now. Play the kind of football they want to see. I just think we could have played better football. If we’d had a better defence this year, we could have played [much] better football.
“I think this new manager can take us on a bit further, I think they’ve got so much further they can [go].”
Can Julen Lopetegui deliver European football at West Ham United?
Lopetegui’s track record at Sevilla is particularly encouraging when assessing the club’s chances of returning to the European stage and becoming a regular fixture there.
The 57-year-old delivered three successive top-four finishes at the Spanish side and won the Europa League in 2020, beating Serie A giants Internazionale to the prize.
If he can deliver anything close to that at the London Stadium, West Ham fans will be delighted.
In other West Ham news, Nigel Reo-Coker believes Graham Potter would take West Ham United to the next level.
For more West Ham news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.