West Ham will be looking for a coach next. Julen Lopetegui should have chosen AC Milan

Julen Lopetegui has experienced a number of upheavals over the last 5 years, from which he has now taken a year off. However, from next season onwards he’ll be strategising on opponents again as he’s reportedly close to signing with AC Milan. Meanwhile, West Ham United were interested in the services of the Spanish coach, so he will probably have to keep looking.

AC Milan have found a replacement for Pioli

Lopetegui is a highly regarded coach who has already tried his hand at Real Madrid. Although it was very unsuccessful and short, after that came great success. This came on the bench of Sevilla, whom he led to the 2019/20 Europa League title.

Subsequently, after 170 coaching matches on the bench of the Spanish club, he heard on the offer of Wolves. However, he didn’t even last a year in the Premier League and has been without a contract since 8 August 2023. Like every year, the summer transfer market offers many opportunities and the 57-year-old coach will probably take one of them.

In particular, according to Football Italia, he should take a seat on the AC Milan bench, where Stefano Pioli would end up after the season. The charismatic Italian coach led the Milan side to the league title after 11 long years. And he’s not doing too badly this season either.

AC are second in Serie A behind Inter. In the Champions League, they were eliminated in the group stage, but in the company of Newcastle, PSG and Dortmund (both in the semi-finals of the Champions League), third place was a solid result.

In the Europa League, they subsequently went past Stade Rennais, Slavia, having lost twice to AS Roma. In the Italian Cup, Pioli’s charges finished runners-up to Atalanta in the quarter-finals.

Fan petition “Nopetegui”

However, fans are not so excited about Lopetegui’s arrival and have created an online petition called “Nopetegui”. But that probably won’t do them much good, since the Spanish coach has already agreed terms with the club. A three-year contract will see him earn €4 million.

Lopetegui will not have an easy start. But he already knows that very well. Probably best when he signed the contract with Real Madrid that cost him the 2018 World Cup.

In fact, when the Spanish federation found out about the move, they released him a few days before the start of the championship in Russia. Subsequently, although the Spaniards won the group, they were already eliminated on penalties by Russia in the eighth round.

There is no shortage of interesting life events in the case of the Spanish coach. In any case, he is a highly regarded coach, as evidenced by the interest of several clubs from the elite leagues. AC Milan, however, is a big name with a rich history, it is hard to refuse.

Source: Football Italia, Transfermarkt