Julen Lopetegui will start his West Ham United reign in ambitious fashion as he is targeting players from former clubs Real Madrid and Sevilla, according to reports.
On Monday, West Ham confirmed that David Moyes will leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season. The 61-year-old has done brilliantly during his second spell as West Ham manager, helping the club win the Europa Conference League last year, but chiefs at the London Stadium feel they need to go in a new direction.
The Irons have moved swiftly to replace Moyes and have agreed terms with Lopetegui, who remains a free agent after leaving Wolverhampton Wanderers just before the start of the campaign.
Lopetegui also received an approach from Bayern Munich, but he surprisingly rejected it as he would rather manage in the Premier League again.
It has already been claimed that West Ham could sell top players including Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta in order to give their new boss a ‘war chest’ for the summer transfer window.
Reports have now revealed the three players Lopetegui will target as a priority. According to The Sun, the Spaniard is a big fan of Youssef En-Nesyri and Marcos Acuna, two players he worked with at Sevilla.
En-Nesyri is a Moroccan centre-forward who has netted 70 goals in 192 games for Sevilla since joining the club in January 2020. That includes an impressive 17 strikes from 37 outings this term.
West Ham were heavily linked with En-Nesyri in the build up to the 2023 January transfer window but did not manage to forge an agreement. Having Lopetegui in charge should help them sign the attacker this time round, though.
West Ham transfers: Lopetegui plans triple deal
En-Nesyri’s team-mate Acuna could also arrive in East London in the near future. The left-back was a part of the Argentina team which won the World Cup in 2022, while he has made 23 appearances for Sevilla this campaign.
As per reports in Spain, En-Nesyri is not the only striker Lopetegui is interested in as he is also pushing for West Ham to snare Real Madrid’s Joselu.
The 34-year-old is on loan at Madrid from Espanyol and it has been reported that the transfer could be made permanent this summer. Instead, though, Lopetegui wants to sign Joselu and add experience to West Ham’s forward ranks.
While Joselu is in the latter stages of his career, he showed he can still influence big matches earlier this week by scoring a late brace against Bayern Munich to send Madrid into the Champions League final.
Should West Ham complete those three impressive signings, then Joselu and En-Nesyri would likely replace Michail Antonio and Danny Ings in the squad. Acuna, meanwhile, could come in for Aaron Cresswell.
