Well there you have it, Hammers appear to have kept the sprat in the form of Julen Lopetegui, instead of the mackerel Ruben Amorim, that they intended to catch! In a way it should come as no surprise that Amorim chose to stay at Sporting as opposed to joining the madhouse that is West Ham United.
David Sullivan was never going to shell out €20 or even €10 Million in compensation to bring Amorim to East London, whereas Lopetegui was available without any fee. Other names like Thomas Tuchel were merely mentioned to show 'due dilligence', but were never realistically going to join the rented home of the club.
Lopetegui's impending appointment will be extremely underwhelming to many fans, but is it that bad? Of course only time will tell, but he couldn't do worse than winning only four games out of twenty four and as such should be seen as a breath of fresh air until proven otherwise.
Lopetegui has been out of work since he left Wolves, so will be keen to start what will be a MASSIVE re-building of the shambles he will inherit from David Moyes. With as many as TEN players needed he will have to work closely with Tim Steidten AND bring members of the youth teams through, something he is NOT known for.
Whether you wanted him or not Lopetegui's appointment is all but confirmed and hopefully the club will have the cajones to announce the new manager BEFORE the Luton game in order for David Moyes to get the send off he so richly deserves.
It is a pity Moyes didn't leave at the end of last season as a hero and legend, whereas now his reputation will be tarnished by what has been a dreadful domestic season punctuated with his determination to do things his way, irrespective of the consequences.
In the end the fans had just had enough of his dour pragmatic approach that he refused to alter and he is now paying the price. From Dino to Loopy Lu?, what a choice! -Ed