Julen Lopetegui has struggled to land a new managerial role since being sacked by West Ham in January.
The Spaniard was far from popular at the London Stadium after being named as the replacement for David Moyes.
It is safe to say that his spell in charge as head coach failed and saw the Hammers faithful turn against him before Graham Potter came in as his replacement.
Since departing the Premier League for the second time, the 56-year-old has yet to find a new job but has revealed how close he came.
Julen Lopetegui fails in Milan talks after West Ham sack
The ex-Real Madrid head coach was once in line to take over as the manager of Belgium but ultimately a different option was taken up by the Red Devils.
This is likely to have come as a blow to the former Spain boss but that doesn’t appear to have stopped him in his pursuit of finding a new role.
Despite being deemed not good enough for the Hammers, Lopetegui has now revealed that he held talks with AC Milan, in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport (18 February).
He said: “Milan is coming forward and I am very happy. A historic and attractive club, a championship that I have always liked and I have always followed it, [I was] fascinated by the way of understanding football as a team game.
“Arrigo (Sacchi) has strongly stimulated my curiosity, he inspired me, I studied him and I was lucky enough to meet him.
The negotiations were progressing well, then they stop suddenly.
It is not up to me to indicate and comment on the reasons for the stop.”
Despite being a tell-all type interview, it is certainly interesting to note that the ex-Irons boss failed to mention the East London outfit once which could point to him making a point of not speaking about his spell in claret and blue.
West Ham were right to sack Julen Lopetegui
Unfortunately for the one-time Europa League champion, this latest update coming from San Siro paints a sorry picture and sums up why the Hammers sacked him.
The style of football was not what the supporters wanted to see and didn’t truly suit the players that he had at his disposal.
Despite Jarrod Bowen clearly having affection for Lopetegui, it made complete sense to pull the sack trigger while Potter was available.
Although there have been some teething problems with the English head coach in E20, with his most recent defeat coming against Brentford, there is plenty of excitement for the future when the ex-Brighton man puts his stamp on the side.
The Irons will be glad that they made the decision but will still be interested to see where their former head coach lands next.
