West Ham United manager Julen Lopetegui spoke about a wide range of topics during a press conference this afternoon.
The Spaniard replaced David Moyes as the West Ham boss earlier this summer, and he has a serious amount of work to do at the London Stadium.
Julen Lopetegui is thought to be keen to bring a minimum of six new signings to the club in the summer transfer window.
In my opinion, he’ll need more than that if he is to guide us back inside the top seven, and eventually European football.
The West Ham manager needs to sign a new centre-back, striker, left winger, left-back, right-back and a central midfielder at the very least as far as I’m concerned.
The Premier League is the most competitive league in the world and as the old saying goes, if you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backwards.
Lopetegui is said to be eyeing up an extremely exciting double swoop for Max Kilman and Jonathan David this summer.
If he manages to bring in big names like that, it will be a sensational summer.
However, with Wolves asking for a massive fee for Kilman and David being eyed by the likes of Chelsea, Lopetegui may well have his work cut out.
It’s not just the thought of new signings that are on the Spaniard’s mind right now.
He clearly has one very big concern indeed when it comes to the group of players he has at his disposal at the London Stadium.
Julen Lopetegui has just shared a real problem for West Ham
So the Hammers boss has opened up on all things West Ham.
The Spaniard came across incredibly well during his press-conference this afternoon, and oozed calmness, composure and authority.
Lopetegui is clearly fully aware of the size of the task he faces at West Ham, but he quite obviously has a very achievable plan in place to help him reach his goals.
The West Ham manager also gave off an air of just how ambitious he is, and the levels he wants to take this team to.
However, the former Wolves boss did open up on one thing that is worrying him right now.
Lopetegui spoke to WHUFC.com today about the recent hamstring injury suffered by Edson Alvarez.
And he highlighted just how much of a problem it could be for West Ham.
The 26-year-old picked up the injury whilst playing for Mexico out in the United States at the Copa America.
The Hammers midfielder left he pitch in tears during Mexico’s clash with Jamaica out in Houston nine days ago.
Recovery times for hamstring injuries can vary from three weeks to anything like four months, depending on the severity of the tear.
If we lose the former Ajax man for anything like two months or more, it will be a nightmare situation for us, because he will be nowhere near fit for the new campaign.
The Mexican is vitally important to the way that Lopetegui wants to play, due to his ability to receive the ball from his defenders in tight areas.
And now the Hammers boss has had his say on Alvarez’s problem.
Lopetegui said, “The injury to Edson Alvarez is bad news for us. It’s good the other guys are playing well for their countries, but hopefully they come back to us in good shape.”
I agree with Lopetegui – losing Alvarez for any period of time will be a really big blow.
However, the encouraging thing is that the Spaniard may well now be forced into signing a top-class defensive midfielder to provide cover and competition for the Mexican.
The Hammers boss clearly isn’t messing about when it comes to strengthening his ranks at the London Stadium.
And I think that the Alvarez injury may well mean that Julen Lopetegui makes a new midfield signing for West Ham this summer.
Every cloud and all that!
READ ALSO:
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