Graham Potter must hand West Ham’s Chelsea recruit his debut – he could save the club millions. Chelsea used to call West Ham their feeder club but now the roles are being reversed and Graham Potter is the perfect man to make the most of it.
West Ham fans had to suffer the ignominy of seeing some of their crown jewels of a golden generation join Chelsea.
John Terry defected to Chelsea from West Ham as a 14-year-old. Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Glenn Johnson followed him to Stamford Bridge for a paltry combined total of less than £30m too.
West Ham fans were constantly goaded by Chelsea fans over stealing away their homegrown stars as the west Londoners won everything in sight.
Things haven’t been so glorious for the Blues after those players left and the Roman Abramovich era ended. West Ham got a measure of revenge by taking Declan Rice from the Chelsea scrapheap as a 14-year-old.
The Hammers gave the boyhood Chelsea fan the platform to become the player he is today. Rice helped West Ham win their first trophy for 43 years and was then sold on for a £105m profit.
With the owners at Chelsea hoovering up player after player from all corners of the globe, Stamford Bridge is not the best place to be an emerging Academy player nowadays.
Ironically, though, West Ham will be once more thanks to their former manager Graham Potter.
One of Potter’s first acts on his return to football following his sacking at Chelsea was to declare West Ham’s Academy would play a fundamental role in his first team. Role reversal as West Ham poach Chelsea starlets. True to his word, Potter started young left-back Ollie Scarles in his first match and he duly rewarded the manager by winning the man of the match award.
Scarles has been playing regularly ever since and started – and starred in – West Ham’s 1-0 win at Arsenal on Saturday.
Other Hammers Academy starlets have been involved in the first team squad and getting minutes too – including Lewis Orford. Now Potter must hand West Ham’s Chelsea recruit his debut because he could save the club millions.
Many Hammers supporters wanted to see the club go out and sign a young, quick forward in the last two transfer windows. It is why fans were so excited by links to Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran.
Evan Ferguson came in on loan in the winter window. But there are doubts over whether West Ham will be able to sign him permanently in the summer. West Ham face the prospect of needing to sign two, if not three, new strikers in the summer window.
Potter must hand West Ham’s Chelsea recruit his debut
But strikers don’t come cheap and money is going to be tight at the London Stadium after last summer’s £155m splurge.
One 18-year-old poached from Chelsea’s Academy is absolutely on fire for West Ham’s development side in Premier League 2. Signed from Chelsea, Josh Ajala spent the whole of his schoolboy footballing career in west London.
But West Ham lured the pacy striker to east London and he signed his first professional contract back in November 2023. He has been a revelation in the Academy of Football ever since.
The both-footed forward is rapid, skilful and deadly in front of goal. Chelsea did not want to lose Ajala but he saw a more realistic pathway at West Ham.
And he has scored his 15th goal of the season in PL2 for the Hammers away at Reading on Monday night. Ajala gave the Reading goalkeeper the eyes as he raced into the box and slotted home to give the Hammers the lead.
Ajala gives the ‘keeper the eyes 👀 pic.twitter.com/FJKrLNGZ8o
— West Ham United (@WestHam) February 24, 2025
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Red hot striker Ajala could save West Ham millions
Potter was reportedly impressed by Ajala when he and his staff watched West Ham’s youngsters beat Man United recently.
With little by league position money to play for in the remainder of the season, Potter must give Ajala his head in the coming months.
He has all the attributes needed to be a top Premier League striker.
West Ham are in talks to sign 18-year-old Celtic forward Daniel Cummings. Hammers News revealed West Ham have promised Cummings he’ll be part of the first team squad next season if he joins.
West Ham also tried to sign 18-year-old French striker Eli Junior Kroupi from Lorient in January but were beaten to him by Bournemouth.
So why not give our own 18-year-old striker sensation a go to see whether he has what it takes before making striker signings in the summer. West Ham will still want to make at least one main striker signing like a Ferguson.
