The reason why Lopetegui could leave West Ham in January

New manager Julen Lopetegui arrived at West Ham at the beginning of the summer transfer window to replace former UEFA Conference League winner David Moyes at the London Stadium. Although there were other high-profile managerial candidates available such as Ruben Amorim, Will Still and Thomas Tuchel, the Hammers decided to bring the experienced Europa League winning manager Julen Lopetegui instead.

The former Spain manager was heavily backed by the West Ham board during the summer transfer window as the Hammers made a total of nine new signings. With star players such as Jean-Clair Todibo, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Niclas Fullkrug joining West Ham, manager Lopetegui was expected to guide the Hammers to qualify for European football next season. However, with only two wins from the first seven league matches, a large section of the West Ham fans are unconvinced with an inconsistent and underwhelming start to the new season.

The reason why Lopetegui could leave West Ham in January

Moreover, there are already speculations surrounding his exit from the London Stadium with a number of top managers such as Graham Potter keen on taking the West Ham managerial role. While that doesn't seem to be an immediate decision, Lopetegui's exit can be announced before the January transfer window. This is due to the fact that the former Real Madrid manager has resigned from his management role at the Spain national team and Wolves as well.

Before the start of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Lopetegui announced his decision to part ways with the Spain national team to join Real Madrid, where he stayed at four months while struggling to meet up the expectations of the defending UEFA Champions League winners. This can be the case with him at West Ham as well, if the Hammers are unable to register a win in the upcoming six important matches. West Ham already are twelfth in the league table and if they remain at the mid-table position in the next few months, Lopetegui will prefer to leave immediately rather than waiting for a few more matches.

Although Lopetegui has not managed any club in over a year before joining West Ham, he is an ambitious manager who demands his players to give their level best performance in every match. Now it remains to be seen whether such a situation arises as West Ham would want to take some important wins after the international break in order to aim for a top six Premier League finish.