West Ham are getting it all wrong with our academy set up, just look at Arsenal. West Ham United are getting it all wrong with our academy right now, unlike Arsenal.
The West Ham academy is world famous, after producing some incredibly talented footballers throughout the years, and the same can be said for Arsenal. West Ham have produced the likes of Bobby Moore, Martin Peters, Sir Trevor Brooking, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and more recently Declan Rice.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have produced the likes of Charlie George, Liam Brady, Tony Adams, Ashley Cole, Cesc Fabregas and most recently Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith-Rowe, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly. The problem with West Ham is that we haven’t produced any true superstars over the past few years.
That’s in spite of the fact that we do have an exciting group of young players coming through the ranks right now, with many of the youngsters looking well equipped to play senior football already. However, the next 12 months or so will be key.
Will the Hammers be able to produce the next Declan Rice, or will it be an underwhelming year for the West Ham academy?
West Ham must copy Arsenal’s academy blueprint
The Gunners have nailed it over the past few five years or so when it comes to bringing talented players through their ranks. There is a group of four who are currently the most highly regarded at the London Stadium.
Ollie Scarles, Lewis Orford, Kaelan Casey and George Earthy have all been tipped to achieve big things in the game.
Now, Earthy is obviously away on loan with Bristol City currently, so he hasn’t officially been promoted by Graham Potter just yet.
However, he’s arguably the most talented youngster we have at the club, so if Potter’s prepared to give a chance to the other three, he will certainly to do the same for Earthy.
The future is very bright indeed at West Ham.
That said, we need to start producing some stars from our academy now. The key to a sustainable model is producing one or two elite talents every couple of years.
And the Hammers’ problem is that the club seems to be obsessed with creating functioning under-18 and under-21 teams, rather than nurturing the next superstar. West Ham beat Arsenal in the youth FA Cup final just under two years ago, we absolutely spanked them 5-1 in fact.
Part of that Arsenal team were Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly – two clear and obvious future superstars. Who has made it from our team at Premier League level though? None of them as yet.
That says it all as far as I’m concerned.
So whilst we were all celebrating that youth cup success, Arsenal have had the last laugh.
West Ham need to produce stars not youth team trophies
Will Earthy, Orford, Scarles or Casey end up being elite level Premier League stars? In fairness, I would be surprised if more than one of them reached the very top.
On a side-note, my outside tip for a youth player who will make it at the very highest level is 17-year-old Airidas Golambeckis. In my opinion, West Ham need to change focus regarding how our academy works.
Let’s start producing stars rather than fully functioning youth teams. Our current way of working doesn’t yield results in the long-term.
The Hammers did it with Declan Rice years ago.
Now we need to produce the next Declan rather than bring home a shiny trophy for the academy honours room.
Hopefully in a few year’s time we can say that the club did exactly that. If West Ham could produce one absolute star from the academy every two years,that would be a good return in my eyes.
