West Ham star makes it clear he doesn’t want to play in position Julen Lopetegui has been trialing him in

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One West Ham United player is not keen to play in a new role that Julen Lopetegui has been experimenting with him recently.

West Ham brought Julen Lopetegui to the London Stadium to supposedly help usher in a new era of success.

However, things haven’t quite worked out that way so far have they!

It has actually been claimed that Lopetegui could be sacked this weekend even if the Hammers beat Everton.

That doesn’t surprise me one little bit – the football has been horrendous to watch and the team looks like a disjointed group of individuals.

Will Lopetegui be given the time he needs to turn things around? That remains to be seen, but he would help himself out massively by being more consistent with his team selections, systems and instructions to his players.

West Ham star not keen on Julen Lopetegui decision

The Spaniard has tinkered with his starting XI and formation for every single Premier League game so far this season.

That lack of continuity clearly hasn’t helped one little bit.

And Konstantinos Mavropanos is someone who has been tasked with a different role on occasion this season.

When speaking to WHUFC.com, the 26-year-old admitted that he’d prefer to be viewed as a centre-back.

“To be honest, I was a bit surprised to come on and fill in at right-back [against Brentford, at the end of September],” confirmed Mavropanos. “I thought I played well. I used to play this position sometimes in Germany [with Stuttgart], because of the way we were defending with three defenders.“

“Of course, for me, I think it’s a little more difficult because I think I am a player who is better to be closer to our own box, but if the manager asks me to play in a different position, whatever it might be, then I will do it and give everything to help the team.”

So there you have it, Mavropanos has made it very clear that he would prefer to play as a central defender, rather than in the right-back position.

Mavropanos played the second-half against Brentford as a right-back, and he actually excelled in that role.

He has trained in that position numerous times since he joined the Hammers as well.

The Greece international has struggled in general this season, but he does have all the attributes needed to be a top Premier League player.

Whether Julen Lopetegui will allow Konstantinos Mavropanos to flourish for West Ham as a centre-back remains to be seen though.