West Ham defender gives an exciting assessment of Julen Lopetegui

West Ham defender Vladimir Coufal has shared his exciting assessment of new manager, Julen Lopetegui. The 31-year-old right-back joined the club from Slavia Prague for £5 million in 2020 and has been a superb signing in the defence.

The Czech international has been a mainstay under former manager, David Moyes and his rock-solid defending was key as the Hammers lifted the 2022/23 UEFA Conference League. However, with the defender in his early thirties, there have been talks of West Ham bringing in a new dynamic right-back this summer.

West Ham defender gives an exciting assessment of Julen Lopetegui

Despite talks of a new fullback arriving, it is almost guaranteed that Coufal will feature for West Ham this season, although in a rotation role alongside the new right-back. Recently, Coufal joined the West Ham training camp in Florida before the Sunshine State Tour and took to the club's official website to express his views on the upcoming 2024/25 season, saying,

"Time is flying! Another season is here and we’re preparing here in Florida. It’s so good to be back with the boys, having conversations with them, and with the staff. We have a new manager and his team, so we have to get used to everything, and I’m really excited about the new season."

- Vladimir Coufal

Asked on his opinion about Julen Lopetegui, Coufal added,

"We have a new style and hopefully we can be successful with the new manager. This is only my third day here and from the sessions I can see it is very intense, the manager wants to play really high, he wants to press and he wants to be on the ball the majority of the time.
I love to press high. So we can call it a new style of football and we can see a new West Ham."

- Vladimir Coufal

This comes as exciting news for West Ham that the club will implement a more active approach to the game after seeing the passive ideas of former manager, David Moyes over the years. Without a doubt, Moyes idea brought results to the Hammers which included the UEFA Conference League win in 2023, however it is highly dependent on a strong back four which West Ham didn't have last season.

Currently the Hammers strength lies in their attack and manager Julen Lopetegui seems to be building the team around star forwards, Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen to aim for a top six spot in the Premier League next season.