David Sullivan jets in manager who ‘schooled Unai Emery’ for West Ham talks
Paulo Fonseca flew into London on Sunday to talk to David Sullivan about the soon-to-be-available West Ham manager job, according to Sean Whetstone.
Writing on his West Ham Football X account on Tuesday (7 January), Whetstone reported that the Hammers co-chairman, as well as other club officials, spoke to Fonseca, 51, about potentially replacing Julen Lopetegui.
On Monday (6 January), talkSPORT reported that the Hammers have decided they’re going to part company with the Spaniard, who was only hired in the summer to replace David Moyes.
West Ham go crawling back to Fonseca
Before appointing Lopetegui in the summer, Fonseca was a name that cropped up a lot as the Irons sought out their replacement for David Moyes.
On 23 April, Sky Sports reported that West Ham were seriously considering hiring the Portuguese boss, who was eventually hired by AC Milan.
However, Fonseca’s time at the San Siro was short-lived and he was dismissed by them in December.
While his spell in Milan wasn’t fruitful, the 51-year-old is better known for his success at Shakhtar Donetsk and Braga.
He also impressed at Lille before he left them at the end of last season.
French football expert Julien Laurens said in April that Fonseca “schooled Unai Emery” in the Europa Conference, albeit losing in the quarter-finals to Aston Villa.
He then took Lille to the Champions League before departing.
The Hammers look as though they’re going crawling back to Fonseca at this point but we’re not sure how he’d be too keen on the job after being overlooked last time for someone who clearly wasn’t the right fit.
In other West Ham news, the Irons are in advanced talks after big news at Rush Green.
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