West Ham confirm Julen Lopetegui as their manager after he turned down Bayern Munich, with ex-Real Madrid boss back in the Premier League after leaving Wolves in transfer cash row

West Ham have finally confirmed Julen Lopetegui as their new head coach after parting ways with David Moyes.

The Spaniard, who has been out of work since leaving Wolves last summer, has signed a two-year contract with the option of an extra year.

Mail Sport revealed earlier this month that Lopetegui was in advanced talks to replace Moyes, who left the club following the expiration of his contract last week. 

'I feel very happy, first of all, to be able to be part of the future of this big club,' Lopetegui said following his hiring. 'We will try to put our stamp on the club.

'I feel that we have a fantastic platform. I think the last few years have been very good years to have this base, of course, but my ambition as a coach is always to be better and better, to achieve more and bigger aims and to encourage and improve the players, the team, and to compete because football is about this - to compete. We are very ambitious about this.

'I am where I want to be. I am here because I want to be here and for us it was a fantastic day when we closed our agreement here because we our commitment is 100 per cent to be here. We had other opportunities but I am very happy that West Ham chose me because I chose West Ham too, so we are really happy about this.

'We came here with the idea and the thought to make a big, big noise. That's why we came here, and we are excited by this challenge. Of course, we are going to do our best to help the club and the team to achieve to achieve the best level and to achieve our aims. I assure the fans that they are going to be key in all our achievements.'

Lopetegui, who has had spells at Sevilla, Real Madrid, Porto and the Spanish national team, is understood to have always been West Ham's first choice - despite the club holding talks with Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim.

The recruitment process was led by chief executive Tim Steidten, with both coaches having initial conversations with the club before a move for Lopetegui accelerated at the start of the month.

Amorim's £12.8million release clause is understood to have been a potential obstacle and he has since decided to remain at Sporting.

Steidten said: 'We are very pleased to welcome Julen and his staff to our club. He was a stand-out candidate to become our head coach and I am personally delighted that we have chosen to work together. His career shows that, wherever he has coached, he has improved players and teams, and we are looking forward to seeing him work with our squad.

'Julen lives and breathes football. He thinks deeply about the game, he is tactically astute and he has shown he can adapt to work in different leagues, in different countries, with national teams, and in each situation he has shown his outstanding qualities. Julen is highly experienced in the way we will now work at West Ham United and I am looking forward to working with him to grow a successful future for the club.'

Lopetegui has been open about his desire to work in the Premier League again after leaving Wolves due to conflict over the club's budget.

The Spaniard and his team will take part in a pre-season tour of the United States in July and August, where they will play friendlies against Lopetegui's former side Wolves and Crystal Palace.