New West Ham United Assistant Head Coach Pablo Sanz has expressed his delight after joining a ‘big and historic Club’.
The 50-year-old is Head Coach Julen Lopetegui’s closest and most trusted ally in football, with the duo’s unbreakable bond having formed in the 1990s when they were both on the books at FC Barcelona.
Sanz came through the Catalan club’s famous La Masia youth academy as a schoolboy and went on to make over 50 appearances for Barca B in the Segunda División, while at the same time goalkeeper Lopetegui was a member of Barcelona’s first-team squad under the guidance of Johan Cruyff.
But it was in 1997, at El Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas, where Sanz and Lopetegui became friends, teammates and history makers together. They earned Rayo Vallecano promotion to La Liga and were part of arguably the club’s most successful period in its history, helping them reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, going out to eventual winners Deportivo Alavés.
After Lopetegui hung up his boots at Vallecano in 2002, he soon began his esteemed coaching career there a year later, meaning he was quickly managing several of his former teammates, including Sanz.
Sanz later started his own coaching career at the Catalan Football Federation, and then spent 18 months at the Costa Rican Football Federation before he was reunited with his former colleague Lopetegui in 2014 at Portuguese club FC Porto, where he served as Academy Director.
He then followed Lopetegui as his Assistant with the Spain national team, at Real Madrid, Sevilla, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and now the Hammers.
“I have really enjoyed it at West Ham so far, because I have arrived at a great Club with great supporters, a beautiful stadium and I am very happy to be here,” Sanz confirmed.
“West Ham for me is a big, historic Club in England. They have won multiple European cups, such as the [UEFA] Intertoto Cup, the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the [UEFA Europa] Conference League, and I always remembered the atmosphere at London Stadium when we played there with Sevilla.
“I am very excited because I think the Premier League is the best league in the world and I am very happy to be working here.”
Sanz, who is one of six coaches working under Lopetegui at West Ham, alongside Óscar Caro, Juan Vicente Peinado, Borja De Alba, Edu Rubio and Xavi Valero, opened up on his journey to east London and how he will provide support to our new Head Coach.
He continued: “There are six people in Julen’s staff, and we are here to help him to manage the team, to make team talks and to form the training sessions. We want Julen to be comfortable with us doing our job.
“I was a football player at Barcelona, and when Johan Cruyff arrived he changed the mentality for everyone. It was an important time, and when I think football changed, and as a coach you have to know your players and how to manage the team. It is very important to know the players and to be able to implement a philosophy, which is what we’re looking to do.
“I have worked with Julen for ten years, but I have known him for nearly 30. I played with him at Rayo Vallecano, and for me Julen is my boss, my coach, my friend and my brother. I know a lot about Julen, and this is very important when we work together at this Club.”
West Ham are currently away in Kitzbühel, Austria, on a week-long training camp, and Sanz insists he’s happy with the hard work and commitment the players are putting into mastering Lopetegui’s footballing philosophy.
The Irons have been put through their paces with daily double sessions to give them a strong base of fitness, which for now is as much a priority as other key components such as tactics, team spirit and technical skill.
Sanz added: “I have enjoyed it a lot over here in Austria, because this is my life. I was a football player, which is something that I enjoyed, and now I enjoy being a coach. The players have been working very hard and we are happy with the work they have done so far.
“A training camp is a huge opportunity to get to know the players, to know the staff and for them to get to know us. I think the work we have done will be very important for us moving forward together and in helping us become stronger as a group.”
