Opinion – £5.3 million Julen Lopetegui sack twist is incredibly bad news for West Ham

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Julen Lopetegui is on the verge of the sack, with West Ham United lining up a move to appoint Graham Potter as his replacement.

West Ham have been all over the place in recent weeks, and Julen Lopetegui will allegedly be sacked today, after a terrible start to the season.

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Graham Potter is the man who is all set to replace the Spaniard, and the 49-year-old has been offered a contract by the Hammers owners.

Sacking Lopetegui is 100 per cent the correct decision.

He has fallen out with numerous players already at the London Stadium, and has failed to instil a clear footballing identity after more than six months in charge.

The Spaniard should have been sacked more than two months ago in my opinion – after the 4-1 defeat to Tottenham would have been the ideal timing.

Alas, he remained in his post and things got worse. At least the board have made a firm decision now though.

That said, hiring the 58-year-old in the summer will still end up being an extremely costly mistake from the Hammers.

£5.3 million Julen Lopetegui sack twist is bad news for West Ham

Everything has been handled really poorly, there are no two ways about that.

However, Lopetegui is clearly not the man for the job, and he had to be moved on before things got really bad.

I’m convinced that Potter is the man we need to help take us on to another level.

It’s just such a shame that the West Ham board didn’t appoint Potter in the first place in the summer, rather than Lopetegui.

Now the Hammers owners will have to dig deep to rectify that mistake.

According to a report from The Mirror (print edition January 8th, page 57), West Ham will have to pay Lopetegui £3.3 million to sack him now, along with at least £2 million to bring in Potter, and that’s only until the end of the season!

The real cost of bringing Julen Lopetegui to West Ham is now clear, with the Spaniard set for a really nice pay-off when the sack call is officially confirmed.

Paying out such a significant sum is bad news for the Hammers. We’re hardly flush with cash as it is.

Lopetegui has failed miserably in his role as Hammers head coach.

He never formed any kind of personal connection with his players or the fans, and it’s clear to see that he was the wrong appointment from day one.

It will very much be onwards and upwards when he’s gone and replaced by Potter though, I’m convinced of that.