Lopetegui sacked: Darren Bent astounded by name linked with West Ham United job
Darren Bent believes that Graham Potter would be a perfect fit for West Ham United, while claiming he was astounded that they didn’t appoint him before Julen Lopetegui.
Lopetegui has reportedly been sacked at West Ham [talkSPORT], with the search for a new manager already well underway as Potter emerges as the likely replacement.
Sean Whetstone reported [6 January] that the ex-Chelsea manager is in line to become the new Hammers manager, and he is likely to be in the dugout for the Fulham encounter on 14 January.
Speaking live via talkSPORT [6 January, 4:12 pm), Bent said: “I thought they should have gone for him first, Graham Potter. Now, there might have been teething problems with Graham Potter at first, but I think the football they’d have been watching, the brand of football they’d have watched, would have been better.
“But the fact that now it looks like they’re going to go back to Graham Potter, I think that’s the right decision. It astounds me, I’m a big Graham Potter fan, I might be in the minority with that, but I always have been. From his Brighton days, it shocked me that he’s still out of work now, no money’s got to do with it.
“I think he could be better than West Ham, I mean, he could do better than a side that’s 14th, but they are a big club.”
Graham Potter to be the new West Ham United boss?
Albeit just about anyone would be an upgrade on Lopetegui, Potter would certainly fit that bill and if the Irons can attain his services it would be a real coup.
Especially given his days at Brighton, Potter made a name for himself with his free-flowing style of football that gave his attacking players the freedom to go on and influence proceedings. Something which Lopetegui failed to ever do.
He managed to turn Brighton into a side capable of challenging the top six in the Premier League before making an ill-advised move to Chelsea, which probably didn’t actually go as badly as many will claim.
West Ham have a plethora of solid attacking options that would thrive under his philosophy and it could be the spark needed to start the revival of their campaign.
The Hammers still have every chance of achieving some form of success this season but an 11-point gap from sixth will make it a difficult challenge.
In other West Ham news, this manager was spotted alongside Tim Steidten fuelling the managerial speculation.
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