David Sullivan can save West Ham season by sanctioning Julen Lopetegui successor
David Sullivan must pull off a swoop for Michael Carrick to replace Julen Lopetegui at West Ham United in order to salvage their Premier League season.
Lopetegui’s role at the London Stadium has been under scrutiny since the start of the campaign due to the underperformance of the team across all competitions.
Carrick has had a stellar stint at Middlesbrough since he took over from Chris Wilder in October 2022.
It was the Manchester United legend’s first senior managerial role and to be fair to him, he’s been rather successful.
Speaking live on talkSPORT (24 November, 07:40am), Tony Cascarino shared why he thinks the Englishman is the “obvious choice” to take over at the London Stadium.
“Michael Carrick is getting a mention [for the West Ham job] isn’t he quite often,” he said.
“West Ham fans, I think the owner is always trying to appease them with the sort of manager that would fit the bill and Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough have been flying.
“They’re the top goal scorers in the Championship at the moment and they are lying fifth in the Championship.
“There’s been a bit of a turnaround there, and so, he’d be an obvious candidate for someone like West Ham because the fans would certainly embrace one of their players that they had many moons ago and bring a style of football that West Ham fans so dearly want.”
Why Michael Carrick is the right man for the West Ham job
Cascarino is absolutely bang on with his assessment. Carrick is one of the brightest young English managers around at the moment with the 43-year-old putting in a more than decent shift as manager of Boro.
The club currently sits fifth in the Championship and are just five points adrift of league leaders Sunderland.
Carrick’s attacking style of play coupled with the defensive stability he instils within his team are the exact sort of parameters Sullivan should be looking for when searching for Lopetegui’s successor.
While the Spaniard hasn’t been relieved of his duties just yet, if he loses one or both of his next games, it’s hard to see how there would be any sort of future left for him at the London Stadium.
If the Hammers want to save their season and attempt to force their way into the European places, they could do far worse than hiring Carrick to take the reins.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers have been told when Sunderland could sanction a transfer for Jobe Bellingham.
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