Burnley have endured a very poor return to the EFL as The Clarets look set for a relegation battle to avoid dropping from the Premier League to League One in successive seasons – but they do have a new Chief Football Officer in Diego Lopez.

Having succumbed to Premier League relegation last season, Burnley are the latest team to immediately once again struggle back down in the Championship after both Luton Town and then Leicester City fell through the two divisions and into the third-tier in the last couple of seasons.

Burnley’s 4-1 hammering at the hands of newly-promoted Lincoln City at the weekend led to the sacking of manager Nicky Hayen, which had appeared inevitable for a while.

Hayen was brought into Turf Moor fairly late into the summer after a protracted managerial search, which evidently harmed the club amid a fairly bizarre summer transfer window conducted by the hierarchy, of whom now own Espanyol in La Liga, too.

As the club search for an identity and supporters cling onto any reason to be positive, they have now announced the appointment of Diego Lopez as Chief Football Officer.

Announced on Monday after a weekend that saw the departure of Hayen and Burnley remain three points adrift of safety in the bottom three and the relegation places in the second-tier; Diego Lopez has come into the club hoping to turn their fortunes around.

Alan Pace, the man responsible for both Burnley and Espanyol as chairman and co-owner, made it clear in his statement that he wanted someone with a ‘strong knowledge of European markets’ to fulfil the role.

According to the BBC, the appointment has been in the works after Lopez left his role as Sporting Director at Genoa in Serie A in early-October.

Lopez is due to be responsible for football operations, recruitment and the sporting structure – therefore leading the search for a manager to replace Hayen.

Diego Lopez travelled to 30 countries in a year as Lille scout

As his career has gone on, Lopez has become a senior football executive at numerous clubs across the continent but he initially started out as a journalist before heading into scouting.

At the CEU Cardenal Herrera University in Valencia, Diego Lopez studied journalism and worked at the University’s newspaper, El Rotativo, as well as at RadioCEU. Lopez credits the Uni with helping him earn scholarships at Spanish media outlets Europa Press, Cadena Ser and El Mundo.

After making his way through other roles in the media such as becoming the editor of SER Deportivos, Off the Record, PlayFutbol, Hora 25 Deportes and Carrusel Deportivo; jobs at both national and regional level.

In a speech to grade students back at his University, Lopez explained how he sought opportunities within the field and how that gave him his footing in football.

Lopez said: “Everything comes from effort and not being still. Every day I review what I can do better and what goal I have to set for myself. No one has given me anything and they won’t do it with you either.

Those opportunities led to relationships being built with those within football and leading him into scouting as he took his first steps into the game:

Lopez explained: “I never imagined that I would end up as a scout, but thanks to contacts with sporting directors, an opportunity arose and I could not miss it.”

While a scout with the French club, Lopez travelled to 30 different countries to find talent for the four-time French champions – the fourth title won in Lopez’ fourth and final season as a scout at the club in the 2020-21 campaign.

After leaving Northern France, Lopez hopped over the border to become the Sporting Director for Belgian side Mouscron before returning to France as chief scout for Girondins de Bordeaux prior to their financial difficulties seeing them parachute into the lower leagues of French football.

After three years at Bordeaux, Lopez moved on to Lens as chief scout and then Sporting Director before taking on the latter role at Genoa in November 2025, immediately involved in the sacking of Patrick Vieira and the appointment of Daniele De Rossi in Liguria.

Burnley will need Diego Lopez to work some magic in January

During his time as Sporting Director of Mouscron, the Belgian outfit succumbed to Jupiler Pro League relegation and relied upon a lot of loans from Lopez’ former club Lille, with Kouadio Yves-Dabila, Saad Agouzoul, Jean Onana, Virgiliu Postolachi, Imad Faraj, Capita, Herve Koffi, Eric Bocat, Charles-Andreas Brym, Darly N’Landu and El Hadji Gueye all moving from Lille to Belgium on a temporary basis.

Not coincidentally, Lopez was still listed as a scout at Lille for the 2020-21 campaign during his time at Belgium and so, while not a multi-club ownership situation, a relationship had been formed.

Burkina Faso international goalkeeper Koffi was a player that also completed a move to Lens during Lopez’ time at Stade Bollaert-Delelis with Will Still appointed as manager.

Lens underwhelmed with an eighth place finish before returning to being runners-up in France last season after Lopez’ departure but some impressive additions were made during Lopez’ time at the club, especially in the winter window such as Juma Bah, Goduine Koyalipou and Jeremy Agbonifo.

As well as an improvement under De Rossi, Genoa also steadied themselves to survival in Serie A last season with their own recruitment, such as the fairly big money addition of Portuguese midfielder Amorim from Alverca.

An impressive winter transfer window will be required if Burnley are to propel themselves clear of danger, albeit there will be some reservations that Lopez’ past of linking clubs he worked at will be repeated now in a multi-club ownership model alongside Espanyol, with some supporters of Burnley already expressing concern at how that will fare following the loan of Quilindschy Hartman to the Catalan side in the summer – a move that Hartman suggested had been in the works for some time.

Whatever happens at Burnley, Lopez has experienced an unusual route into a senior executive position and there will be an interest into what patterns occur over the coming months, beginning with who is appointed to replace Hayen at Turf Moor.