REPORT: Manuel Pellegrini to be announced as West Ham manager Monday

The West Ham managerial search may well be done. Reports from Pauta in Chile say Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini has reached a deal to brIng him to East London.

According to friends of BTH Pauta is a fairly legitimate digital newspurce in Chile.

Pellegrini has been coaching Chinese Super League member Hebei Fortune China since leaving Manchester City in 2016. In Manchester Pellegrini won the Premier League in 2013 as well as a League Cup. He also embarrassed Big Sam with a 9-0 aggregate defeat in the League Cup semi-final that year.

Known for his attactive attacking football, Pellegrini’s Manchester City team were the fastest team to 100 goals in a season in 2013. When he left in 2016 he had the fifth highest winning percentage of any manager in Premier League history at nearly 60%.

In East London, Pellegrini will reunite with his pal Pablo Zabaletta who was an ingegral part of his Manchester City teams. We can only hope though that he doesn’t move for Joe Hart as we saw what that dumpster fire looks like already.

It’s a move that should inspire some confidence in hammers fans. Pellegrini has a track record of winning not only at City but also at Villareal, Real Madrid, and Malaga.

He tends to prefer an attacking 4-2-3-1 formation and had Sergio Aguero leading the line for his Manchester City teams. Perhaps a good omen for Javier Hernandez who much like Aguero works best with the ball played to his feet.

The possible appointment of Pellegrini comes just days after West Ham interview Paulo Fonseca. It also comes after a statement from David Sullivan say he hoped to have a new manager within ten days.

The signing of Pellegrini would be coup for West Ham as they begin their transfer season before the World Cup. Pellegrini would have ample time to begin brining in the pieces he thinks will help the hammers next season.

He’ll inherit a squad that has some good attacking pieces in Marko Arnautovic, Chicharito, Manuel Lanzini, and Michail Antonio. There are some holes in the defense and midfield that he will have to address.

If the reports in Chile turn out to be true this will be a very exciting appointment for the hammers. Although some will be sad to see we couldn’t pry Rafa Benietz away from Newcastle (I always thought it would be tough to do). He’s a big name that has a track record of success in the Premier League which is more experience than Slaven Bilic, David Moyes, or Sam Allardyce had.

Let’s see what Monday brings.