The crisis at West Ham is deepening today as one of the club’s top stars shows he’s not bluffing about a threat to leave over the manager.
Dark clouds are gathering over the London Stadium again and West Ham aren’t helping themselves.
Hammers fans turned on manager Julen Lopetegui during the 3-1 defeat at Leicester.
Supporters were largely underwhelmed by the Spaniard’s appointment as David Moyes’s successor.
West Ham fans gave the 58-year-old a chance but have not seen anything they can get behind in terms of a a style or identity in one shambolic performance after another.
Any goodwill towards Lopetegui evaporated at the King Power, though.
The ex Wolves boss was widely expected to be sacked as an emergency West Ham board meeting was called on Thursday.
However, the owners stood by the beleaguered, much to the frustration of supporters.
Fans feel keeping Lopetegui is a pointless exercise because, even if the Hammers beat Wolves, it proves little about his credentials to remain manager given how poor the opposition are.
As news emerged about Lopetegui staying, so too have a steady stream of stories about chaos in the dressing room.
West Ham star makes good on threat to leave over Lopetegui
The highly detailed nature of accounts from behind the scenes suggest the goings-on are being deliberately leaked by players or associates.
Especially after it emerged five top West Ham stars have united in a bid to force the owners to sack the manager.
It is being claimed by several different sources that Jean-Clair Todibo, Mohammed Kudus, Guido Rodriguez, Edson Alvarez and Niclas Fullkrug have all told the club they want out if Lopetegui stays.
Now one West Ham star is making good on the threat to leave over Lopetegui as ‘talks are held’ with a European giant.
Top Hammers insider Sean Whetstone quoted his top source inside the club when claiming German striker Fullkrug is unsettled at West Ham and already wants to leave.
The Hammers paid Dortmund an initial £23.5m plus £3m in add-ons for the 31-year-old.
The forward has just returned from three months out injured, scoring the consolation at Leicester.
After the game Fullkrug stuck the boot in on Lopetegui by saying his tactics and approach aren’t working.
Fullkrug also clearly hinted as issues in training and a lack of leadership and ‘hierarchy’.
Overnight it was revealed Fullkrug is one of five players telling the club either Lopetegui goes or they will.
Now a detailed report from Italy claims Fullkrug’s entourage are in talks with Juventus about joining them.
And they’re trying to arrange a January loan move with an option to buy for around £15-20m in the summer.
Fullkrug ‘talks held’ with Euro giant over loan with option
“The boy has expressed, for reasons other than football, the desire to go away on loan far from England,” Tuttosport reports, as transcribed by Hammers News.
“Hence the idea of experimenting for six months in the Italian championship (on an initial loan) and why not with such an important shirt as the black and white one.
“(He has told Juventus) yes, that the opportunity that would intrigue him quite a bit.
“In this sense his entourage has started to move to understand the potential feasibility of an operation destined to take off in a non-immediate time frame.”
This absolutely piles the pressure on David Sullivan and the Hammers board now.
Pressure piles on Hammers owners over manager decision
Besides the damage the Lopetegui saga is doing to the club’s reputation, West Ham already needed to sign a striker in January.
The kind of younger, more dynamic forward most Hammers observers and fans felt was needed in the summer.
Now the owners are putting genuinely put under pressure just to keep Fullkrug let alone bring a new forward in.
And it comes down to the dithering over the manager.
Whether these talks with Juve will be welcomed by the Hammers given Fullkrug’s history of serious injuries is another matter.
It’s all becoming very messy and the German is clearly backing up his reported words with action.
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