West Ham United have confirmed the appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo as their new head coach.
The 51-year-old, regarded by the Hammers “among the most highly respected coaches in the modern game,” arrives at the London Stadium just hour after his predecessor Graham Potter was sacked on Saturday morning.
Potter leaves West Ham 19th in the Premier League table after winning only 24% of his 23 matches across all competitions during his nine-month tenure – the worst win percentage of any permanent manager in the club’s history.
The Hammers said in a club statement that “results and performances over the course of the second half of last season and the start of the 2025-26 season have not matched expectations”, while the board of directors “believe that a change is necessary in order to help improve the team’s position in the Premier League as soon as possible”.
The man identified by West Ham as their primary target was Nuno, who has made a swift return to management less than three weeks after he became the first Premier League managerial casualty of the new season at Nottingham Forest, where he spent 21 months in charge.
The Portuguese coach has put pen to paper on a three-year contract at West Ham and he will be in the dugout for his first Premier League game on Monday night when his new team face David Moyes’s Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Nuno relishing “challenge” and plans to make West Ham “competitive”
“I am very pleased to be here and very proud to be representing West Ham United,” Nuno told the club’s official website following confirmation of his appointment.
“My objective is to work hard to get the very best from the team and ensure that we are as competitive as we possibly can be. The work has already started and I am looking forward to the challenge that is ahead.”
West Ham have also confirmed that Nuno will be assisted in the interim by academy coaches Mark Robson, Steve Potts, Gerard Prenderville and Billy Lepine, with a further announcement on his permanent coaching and backroom staff “to be made in due course”.
Nuno has spent the last 13 years as a senior manager, working at eight different clubs across four different countries, with West Ham representing his third Premier League job.
The former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur boss most recently lead Nottingham Forest to European qualification for the first time in three decades courtesy of a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League.
Forest, who also reached the FA Cup semi-finals last season, decided to part ways with Nuno earlier this month following a well-documented breakdown in relationship between himself and owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Nuno will hope to build a stronger relationship with West Ham’s under-fire hierarchy, including chairman David Sullivan and vice-chairman Karen Brady, who have been heavily criticised by the club’s supporters in recent weeks for how they have run the club.