West Ham are already sounding out potential managerial targets should they decide to part ways with Julen Lopetegui, according to The Guardian.
After winning just three of his first 10 Premier League games since replacing David Moyes last summer, the Spaniard is under intense pressure to turn things around quickly in east London, with West Ham reportedly ‘alarmed’ that the team sits just six points above the relegation zone at this stage of the campaign.
West Ham fans are also getting restless with the situation, with many already calling for the club to make an immediate change in the dugout, or at least if Lopetegui fails to beat fellow strugglers Everton at London Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
This weekend’s clash with the Toffees appears to now be a make or break fixture for the former Real Madrid boss, with West Ham already doing ‘background checks’ on potential long and short term replacements in case West Ham fail to beat Sean Dyche’s side.
As per Jacob Steinberg’s report in The Guardian, Stuttgart’s Sebastian Hoeness, former Denmark boss Kasper Hjulmand and Roger Schmidt, who was sacked by Benfica in August.
Meanwhile, former Brighton and Chelsea boss, Graham Potter, remains a ‘lukewarm’ option for the club, while interest in Edin Terzic ‘remains unclear.’
So who are three managers named as potential West Ham targets and are they realistic options?
Sebastian Hoeness
The 42-year-old is currently in charge at Stuttgart and last season guided them to Champions League qualification for the first time since 2009 by finishing second in the Bundesliga.
With that in mind, Hoeness would appear to be a rather unrealistic option to take over mid-season as it’s probably unlikely that he would be willing to leave a club competing in the Champions League for a club not competing in Europe and currently hovering just above the Premier League’s relegation zone.
His success last season is remarkable given he took the job in April 2023 with the club bottom of the Bundesliga. He kept them up via the relegation play-offs before leading them to their highest Bundesliga finish since 2007 the following season.
His win percentage at the Bundesliga outfit is 58%, with 38 wins 13 draws and 15 defeats in 66 games in charge.
Kasper Hjulmand
Kasper Hjulmand, 52, was the Denmark manager that lost to England in the Euro 2021 Euros semi-final. It was a game in which the Danes almost won, had it not been for a late penalty by Harry Kane that secured victory.
He resigned in July this year after Denmark lost to Germany at Euro 2024 round of 16 stage, following four largely successful years in the dugout.
Aside from an impressive showing as Denmark boss, where he had a 59% win record, Hjulmand has a rather underwhelming managerial record at club level.
He has managed Nordsjælland in two spells, with a brief stint with Mainz 05 in Germany in between. He was sacked by Mainz after just nine months in charge having won just five of his 24 games in charge. A year later he returned to Nordsjælland for a second spell and managed a 38% win ratio over 113 matches.
With the above in mind, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Hjulmand was being considered as just a short-term option for now.
Roger Schmidt
Schmidt’s managerial record is the most impressive.
The 57-year-old has managed the likes of Red Bull Salzburg, where he won the Austrian Bundesliga in 2014, Bayer Leverkusen, PSV and Benfica, where he won the Portuguese Primeira Liga.
The German has managed over 800 games in his career and has never left a club with a win ratio of below 50%.
He was recently sacked by Benfica after a poor start to the new season, but he was in charge for a little over two years and had a 70% win ratio, losing just 15 of his 115 games in charge. In his first season, though, he won his first 13 matches in charge, including in the Champions League. He lost his first match in Portugal in his 30th match in charge.
He has won trophies at RB Salzburg, PSV and Benfica and doesn’t appear to be very used to losing football matches, so he’s certainly a name that stands out as a potential saviour in east London.
