Wherever he has been, Julen Lopetegui has coached footballers and improved them as both players and young people.
During his double UEFA European Championship-winning spell in charge of Spain’s age-group sides at the start of the 2010s, among the young players to have benefitted from Lopetegui’s methods and philosophy were future senior internationals Isco, Álvaro Morata, Dani Carvajal, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Paco Alcácer and Álex Grimaldo.
At FC Porto, a young Casemiro established himself in European football.
At Sevilla, the likes of France defender Jules Koundé, Argentina winger Lucas Ocampos, Spanish midfielder Óliver Torres and Morocco centre-forward Youssef En-Nesyri all played the best football of their careers under Lopetegui’s guidance.
At Wolverhampton Wanderers, Max Kilman grew into one of the Premier League’s best young centre-backs.
Now, as he prepares to formally take over as West Ham United’s new head coach on 1 July, Lopetegui is aiming to do exactly the same thing in east London.
“I think that we are going to have time to work on the skills of the players, but I think that we have a good base and a good platform to start working from,” he observed, referring to the three top-nine Premier League finishes and three deep runs into European competitions that the Hammers have achieved in the previous four seasons.
“They are playing with quality and of course I'm totally willing to try to improve this squad. We will be humble, but we can be humble and at the same time ambitious. I think this is the platform we have to try to put in [our philosophy] on the first day.
“You can be humble in football, but you can also show that you have big ambitions every day because this is your responsibility. When you wake up, you have to show every day that you want to improve, improve and improve, and this will be our demand.”
After four-and-a-half years of undoubted progress under manager David Moyes, Lopetegui’s appointment heralds a new era at West Ham, where the experienced Spaniard will work with technical director Tim Steidten in a fresh men’s first team structure.
The head coach appreciates that he is inheriting a squad and a Club as a whole that is in a healthy position, and is relishing the opportunity to build on the foundations put in place and, with the support of staff, raise West Ham to an even higher level.
“David has done very good work here, I have huge respect for him as he has the third-most matches (managed) in the Premier League, which is incredible, but now we are here because we have this aim, this desire and this commitment with our work for the Club, too,” the 57-year-old confirmed.
“So, we are going to work very, very hard first of all to try translate to the players our way to work every day, with a big demand. Of course, being able to have all this energy around the Club, too, I am sure that we are going to have the help of all the workers in the Club too.
“It is never easy because there is nothing easy in football. All the things you are going to achieve come with big challenges, but we believe in this way to work and we are going to try to do it.”
