West Ham United have a proud history of promoting youth players.
The likes of Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole and Mark Noble have all made their way through the Hammers’ legendary academy.
In more recent times, Declan Rice is probably the best player to come out of the club, and while he did go on to join a London rival, he did so after 245 appearances.
Since he left, the club have struggled to replace him, but that may soon be about to change with someone Jarrod Bowen rates highly.
West Ham's most exciting academy stars
The good news for West Ham fans is that, while the first team might be somewhat lacking in quality, there are plenty of promising youngsters in the academy at the moment.
In The Pipeline
Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.
For example, they might just have a homegrown version of El Hadji Malick Diouf soon in Emeka Adiele.
The 18-year-old left-back has been in fine form this season, and as things stand, has amassed an impressive tally of one goal and six assists in just eight appearances for the U21 side.
Described as someone “full of confidence and tenacity” by one analyst, it might not be too long until fans get to see him in first-team action.
The same could be said for one of the academy’s best goalscorers: Josh Landers.
The 18-year-old Scotsman joined the Hammers from Hibernian in February of this year and, as one analyst puts it, as one analyst puts it, has “hit the ground running.”
So far this season, the Innerleithen-born gem has already scored five goals in five appearances, totalling 269 minutes for the U21s, which is a goal every 53.8 minutes.
Appearances
12
8
Goals
9
5
Assists
0
0
Goal Involvements per Match
0.75
0.62
Finally, although he is a bit older and has now played in the first team, Callum Marshall is still someone worth keeping an eye on, having been named Huddersfield Player of the Year while on loan there last season.
West Ham's future Rice
So, while it’s clear that West Ham have a number of exciting attackers and even the odd full-back coming through, who is the youngster that might one day emulate Rice? That huge task falls to the hugely promising Preston Fearon, but what makes him similar to the Hammers’ former captain?
Well, firstly, like the England international, the 18-year-old gem joined the East Londoners from Chelsea.
More crucially than that, though, he’s someone who can play a few different positions but is primarily a midfielder. More specifically, he thrives as a six and an eight.
Central Midfield
14
0
5
Defensive Midfield
9
0
2
Attacking Midfield
2
0
0
Right Winger
1
0
0
Right Midfield
1
2
0
Centre-Back
1
1
0
For example, since joining the Irons’ academy set-up, the youngster has made 39 appearances across the U18s and U21s, of which 14 have been in central midfield and nine in defensive midfield.
Moreover, on top of his defensive sensibilities, the exciting prospect is capable of chipping in with goal involvements as well, with him scoring three and providing seven assists in his career so far.
Finally, he is also seen as a player who could genuinely make it into the first team, and not just be a part of the squad, but really thrive.
For example, on top of featuring in pre-season, he has also received praise from Bowen, who described him as a “special player” and went on to tell the club’s website that he’s “never seen someone nutmeg so many people in training.”
Ultimately, it’s hard to predict how a youngster will develop in football, but it does seem as if Fearon has it all, and therefore, he could end up becoming West Ham’s new Rice.
