Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Chelsea - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - March 11, 2023 Chelsea manager Graham Potter after the match REUTERS/Toby Melville/ File Photo
(Reuters) -West Ham United have named former Chelsea manager Graham Potter as their new head coach to replace Julen Lopetegui on a two-and-a-half year contract, the Premier League club announced on Thursday.
Potter returns to a managerial role for the first time since departing from Chelsea in April 2023, hoping to lift West Ham from 14th place, where they sit just seven points above the relegation zone.
"It was important to me that I waited until a job came along that I felt was right for me, and equally that I was the right fit for the club I am joining," Potter said in a statement.
"My conversations with the chairman and the board have been very positive and constructive, we share the same values of hard work and high energy to create the solid foundations that can produce success.
"We are on the same wavelength in terms of what is needed in the short-term and then how we want to move the club forward in the medium to long term."
Chelsea's new ownership paid more than 21 million pounds for Potter in September 2022 after the 49-year-old guided Brighton & Hove Albion to ninth-place in the Premier League in the previous season.
Potter, however, lasted only 31 games, posting 12 wins, before being dismissed, as the Englishman failed to get the best out of a squad bolstered by over 600 million euros ($620 million) in signings across two transfer windows.
Former Swansea City boss Potter, who was also linked with the England job before Thomas Tuchel's appointment, now faces the challenge of reviving the form that saw West Ham win the Conference League in 2023, ending a 23-year trophy drought.
His first game in charge will be the FA Cup third-round tie at Aston Villa on Friday.
UNDER PRESSURE
Potter will be under pressure from the off as he seeks to implement the style that was promised under his predecessor.
The 58-year-old Lopetegui parted ways with West Ham on Wednesday following a 4-1 thrashing at Manchester City, the team's ninth loss in 20 league games.
Lopetegui was appointed in May on a reported two-year contract to implement a more expansive playing style at West Ham after David Moyes left the club by mutual consent.
West Ham were knocked out of the League Cup 5-1 by Liverpool in September and in their last two Premier League games suffered back-to-back losses to Liverpool and City, conceding nine goals.
The Spaniard, who led West Ham in 22 games, became the fifth Premier League manager to be sacked this season. Lopetegui's backroom staff also left the club.
He was backed by the club's owners in the close season with more than 140 million euros spent on new signings such as defenders Maximilian Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and forwards Crysencio Summerville and Niclas Fullkrug.
($1 = 0.9716 euros)
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City and Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams and Toby Chopra)
