{"id":321,"date":"2024-12-25T21:37:38","date_gmt":"2024-12-25T13:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=321"},"modified":"2024-12-25T21:37:38","modified_gmt":"2024-12-25T13:37:38","slug":"julen-lopetegui-could-be-saved-by-e60m-rated-la-liga-ace-with-premier-league-ambitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/25\/julen-lopetegui-could-be-saved-by-e60m-rated-la-liga-ace-with-premier-league-ambitions\/","title":{"rendered":"Julen Lopetegui could be saved by \u20ac60m-rated La Liga ace with Premier League ambitions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-66-1024x768.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-66-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-66-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-66-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-66.png 1240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>West Ham first-team head coach, Julen Lopetegui, could be saved from the sack by the East London club if they\u2019re able to sign a \u20ac60m-rated La Liga ace who has Premier League ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s certainly fair to say that Julen Lopetegui\u2018s first few months in the West Ham job have been tumultuous to say the least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With so many new signings made during the summer, supporters would be forgiven for thinking that the Hammers would be in the top half of the Premier League and challenging for the European places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Julen Lopetegui wants Brais Mendez<br>As it is, the Irons find themselves way down in 14th position and with a fixture against bottom club, Southampton \u2013 complete with new manager Ivan Juric ready to mastermind their great escape \u2013 looming large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s believed that Loptegui is just one game away from the sack, whilst one West Ham player wants to leave whether the manager goes or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brais Mendez of Real Sociedad during the pre-season friendly match against Union Berlin. (Photo by Luciano Lima\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>News that Brais Mendez, one of Real Sociedad\u2019s most important players, is interested in furthering his career ambitions with a move to the Premier League, per CaughtOffside sources, will likely be welcomed by the East Londoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s because West Ham have watched Mendez in recent matches against Leganes , Las Palmas and Celta Vigo, and have been left purring by the player\u2019s abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aston Villa are also said to be monitoring the situation, though the Hammers could be in the box seat if they\u2019re willing to meet La Real\u2019s valuation of \u20ac60m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last throw of the dice for Julen Lopetegui<br>CaughtOffside sources further advance that Sociedad would prefer that Mendez continues his footballing education with them, as they don\u2019t want to be known as a selling club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mikel Merino recently departed to Arsenal, Alexander Isak left for Newcastle in 2022, and continued interest from the English top-flight in Martin Zubimendi may ultimately prove too much for the Spanish international to resist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the Spanish top-flight side\u2019s hopes, if the West Ham board decide to continue backing their manager, then Mendez\u2019s creativity and vision will play an important role in improving the team\u2019s performance in the Premier League \u2013 and potentially keep Lopetegui in a job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>West Ham first-team head coach, Julen Lopetegui, could  [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions\/323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}