Julen Lopetegui already feels like a distant – and bad – memory for West Ham but there could be a shock twist on the cards and it can only be Spurs or Manchester United.
There was a bitter irony about West Ham’s defeat to Wolves in midweek.
Here are the Hammers losing to the only team worse than them in the Premier League outside the bottom three.
A West Ham team on their third manager in less than a year, losing to a side Graham Potter’s predecessor Julen Lopetegui walked out on before pledging to have the Irons competing for Europe.
Man United and Tottenham Hotspur have not been much better.
Both the Red Devils and Spurs also lost yet again in midweek as their seasons continue to mirror the horrendous campaign being endured by the Hammers.
Woeful Hammers season mirrored at Spurs and Man United
Ange Postecoglou is clinging on to the Tottenham job by the fingers he’s just used to cup his ear to his own fans.
Ruben Amorim has also been questioned having failed to get Manchester United upwardly mobile.
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The Europa League represents a last hope for Man United and Spurs this season.
Speculation is already rife changes will be on the cards if those hopes aren’t realised – particularly at Tottenham.
West Ham could not wait much longer to play their hand this season.
Lopetegui oversaw a disastrous 192-day reign before being shown the door in east London.
He outlasted Erik ten Hag and actually helped send him packing from Man United with an extremely fortunate win earlier in the season.
But by January David Sullivan and co had seen enough.
It is officially the shortest tenure of any permanent West Ham manager in the club’s 130-year history.
Yet as far as most Hammers fans are concerned, the board left it far too long to pull the trigger on the man they dubbed ‘Flopetegui’.
Although bar one or two spikes in performance levels, Potter has not been able to get a tune out of the same group of players either.
The Englishman has made it perfectly clear who he thinks is at fault.
Potter has blamed Lopetegui for leaving West Ham in a mess as he struggles to get lift-off in east London.
Lopetegui has since slammed West Ham for sacking him, saying it was too soon and claiming much better was to come in the second half of the season.
Surprisingly, the ex Wolves and Spain boss has been linked with a number of high-profile jobs since leaving the London Stadium.
The Belgium job was on the cards in the immediate aftermath of his sacking.
Then there were reports of Lopetegui being back in Man United’s contingency plans should Amorim continue to struggle.
That’s after Lopetegui was linked with Man United before West Ham appointed him.
A gig in Mexico was also a reported opportunity for the former Real Madrid player and manager.
Now an astonishing new Lopetegui claim will leave West Ham stunned and it can only be Spurs or Man United.
According to South American Dazn journalist Julio Suarez, Lopetegui has turned down offers to take a job in Mexico – where he is currently building a hotel.
Astonishing Lopetegui claim can only be Spurs or Man United
The reason will leave jaws on the floor in the West Ham boardroom.
Because Lopetegui has claimed privately that not only is it his intention to manage a club at ‘the top of the Premier League very soon’.
But also that a ‘very big one’ has made it clear to him he is on their radar to take over.
That is quite an incredible claim.
Logic says the only clubs that can possibly be, which fit that profile, are Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Maybe Chelsea if Enzo Maresca fails to get the Blues in the Champions League.
West Ham fans will be dumbstruck if Tottenham or Man United appoint Lopetegui.
Surely the only realistic explanation is a PR campaign to keep the 58-year-old Spaniard’s name relevant in Premier League circles.
One to keep an eye on this summer nonetheless.
After all stranger things have happened in football – and one look at Lopetegui’s CV shows he clearly interviews well.