After the 4-1 away defeat against Tottenham Hotspurs, West Ham will play Manchester United as part of their next important league fixture during the first half of the season. Despite making nine star signings in the summer transfer window, manager Julen Lopetegui hasn't managed to successfully achieve good on-field results at West Ham consistently.
Therefore, the Hammers fans aren't quite impressed with the former UEFA Europa League winning manager as they expected Lopetegui to implement a more possession-based as well as results oriented approach after the departure of former head coach David Moyes. On top of that, the huge defeats against Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspurs have sparked further speculations that the West Ham board could start lining up other alternatives to Lopetegui if the club remains outside the top-ten position in the Premier League table after the Arsenal match.
Champions League finalist could return to West Ham as new manager
West Ham missed on qualifying for European football last season, and thus were said to be aiming for a top-six Premier League finish in order to play European football from the next season. If Lopetegui couldn't manage West Ham to make a comeback in the Premier League, the Hammers could bring their former assistant manager Edin Terzic to replace Lopetegui as their new head coach.
Under the management of former Hammers manager Slaven Bilic, Terzic stayed at the London Stadium in an assistant manager role for two seasons. In 2017, Terzic left the Hammers to return to Borussia Dortmund as an assistant manager having previously worked as a youth coach for the Bundesliga side.
Over the years, Terzic performed various roles for Borussia Dortmund such as assistant manager, caretaker-manager and even as a permanent head coach. Last season, Terzic exceeded expectations at Borussia Dortmund as he managed them to reach the Champions League final.
Although they finished as the runners-up and Terzic later left the club at the end of the season, their memorable Champions League campaign signified Terzic's upward trajectory as a world-class manager. Moreover, Terzic implements a brilliant front three alongside an attack-oriented formation to bring the best out of the forwards.
West Ham have a number of star forwards at the club who have been currently struggling with their goalscoring and finishing inside the box. Thus, Terzic is highly likely to thrive at West Ham and could help new signing Niclas Fullkrug to replicate his prolific Borussia Dortmund form at the London Stadium as well.
While manager Julen Lopetegui staying at West Ham isn't ruled out, the Hammers could consider starting managerial talks with Terzic if West Ham couldn't take some convincing wins in the upcoming matches.