West Ham have prospects with no first-team opportunities. How do they fix a blocked pathway?

Declan Rice made a short walk from the tunnel to the changing room, joining in the celebrations and singing along to American rapper Lil Baby with West Ham United’s youngsters, who ended a 24-year wait to win the FA Youth Cup.

On that memorable night in April 2023, they emphatically beat Arsenal 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium. George Earthy struck from outside the box, Callum Marshall tapped in, Gideon Kodua hit an audacious dink from 35 yards out and defenders Kaelan Casey and Josh Briggs wrapped up the win. Rice, who joined Arsenal from West Ham for £105million in July 2023, told the players he was proud of their achievements, that he had never won the prestigious competition and that they all had bright futures ahead of them.

But 18 months later, we are still no closer to knowing if the players will fulfil Rice’s prophecy. In truth, the England international is the academy’s last success story. The club, which styles itself as the ‘Academy of Football’, has failed to integrate youngsters into the first team. West Ham are one of four Premier League sides (Brentford, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham) yet to field a club-trained player — those who have spent three years in the club between their 15th and 21st birthdays – this season, according to the CIES Football Observatory. After signing nine players in the summer, they have the second-oldest squad in the league, with an average age of 28.8.

Of the players who featured that night against Arsenal, only Casey and Earthy have played in the Premier League — a total of 108 minutes. Casey, a centre-back, was an unused sub against Manchester City and Nottingham Forest. He has not been in the matchday squad for nine of West Ham’s 11 league games. In August, midfielder Earthy joined Championship side Bristol City on a season-long loan, while promising forward Divin Mubama joined Manchester City having rejected multiple contract offers.

The table below shows the players who featured in West Ham’s Youth Cup-winning team in the final. Those in green have played in the Premier League since then.

“Julen Lopetegui (West Ham United’s head coach) is under pressure so he won’t have any interest in playing the youngsters,” said a source close to an academy graduate, who spoke under the condition of anonymity to protect relationships. “They win the FA Youth Cup and what’s the reward? To not even get a chance to feature on the bench. Arsenal lost, but two of their youngsters (Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly) from that side have played for the first team this season. Why can’t we do that?

“I really feel for the youngsters. If I was a young player and West Ham were one of the clubs interested in signing me, I wouldn’t go there. The club needs to address this because more youngsters will turn down contract offers like (Ben) Johnson and Mubama. There needs to be a complete change in the culture at the club. People with influence need to push for the youngsters to be more involved.”

In 2022-23, West Ham’s under-18s won the Premier League South Division. They won the FA Youth Cup for the fourth time (the previous trophies came in 1963, 1981 and 1999) in front of 7,000 travelling fans. Academy coaches Kevin Keen, Mark Phillips, and Gerard Prenderville played key roles in the achievement, while Scott Boyd, the Northern Ireland scout, was pivotal in signing Marshall, Briggs and Patrick Kelly.

In the summer, many of the youngsters joined EFL clubs on season-long loans. Freddie Potts (Portsmouth), Earthy, Marshall (Huddersfield Town) and Kodua (Wycombe) have all impressed. But with a pathway to the first team proving arduous, many prospects have left to pursue opportunities elsewhere. Divine Mukasa turned down a scholarship deal and joined Manchester City in 2023. That year, highly-rated defender Amara Nallo joined Liverpool. Retaining talent below under-18 level is also proving difficult. Midfielder Kyran Thompson, 15, had been at West Ham since the age of eight but left in September to join Arsenal.

This, however, is nothing new. In 2020, winger Benicio Baker-Boaitey was only 16 when he rejected a professional contract to instead join Porto. Baker-Boaitey is now on loan at League Two side Port Vale from Brighton & Hove Albion. Joshua Wilson-Esbrand was 16 when he left to join Manchester City in 2021, while forward Ronnie Stutter left West Ham at 15 to join Chelsea, both in 2019.

But some have seen their careers stall by opting to leave. Mubama joined City in August after having rejected multiple contract offers. The 19-year-old forward is yet to play for their academy. Kai Corbett rejected a contract offer to join Peterborough United in November 2021 in search of first-team football, and now plays for non-League side Aldershot Town. Sonny Perkins had an acrimonious departure in 2021 when he joined Leeds United. After enduring setbacks, his career is belatedly getting back on track during his loan spell at League One side Leyton Orient.

There is, however, renewed optimism that prospects such as Earthy, Casey, Lewis Orford and Marshall will break that mould. During the international break, Earthy won his first cap for England Under-21s. In July, Aston Villa rejected West Ham’s offer of £30million plus Orford for striker Jhon Duran. They had previously attempted to sign Orford in June, but West Ham turned down their approach.

In August, Orford signed a five-year contract, with his previous deal set to expire in 2025. The midfielder was included in West Ham matchday squads 10 times last season, with four of them in the Premier League. The club turned down loan offers for Casey in the summer. As a sign of his progress, he parks in the senior car park with the first team. Marshall has been capped eight times for Northern Ireland.

Since the start of the season, Airidas Golambeckis, Oliver Scarles, David Chigwada, Tyron Akpata and Preston Fearon have all signed professional contracts. The latter has trained with the first team. Scarles is remembered fondly for his impressive debut against Romanian side FCSB in 2022. Golambeckis is viewed as one of the more promising prospects. The 17-year-old defender grew up close to West Ham’s training ground, has Lithuanian parents and has been capped for England Under-18s.

Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool have shown the benefits of playing young players. Liverpool’s Carabao Cup victory over Chelsea in February featured Jarrell Quansah, Bobby Clark, James McConnell and Jayden Danns. Kobbie Mainoo has developed into an England international since making his debut for Manchester United in 2022. Pep Guardiola played two Manchester City academy graduates (Rico Lewis and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey) in their 4-1 loss to Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League.

The template is there for West Ham to one day follow suit. In moments like this, it is important to reflect on Keen’s hopes for the future moments after witnessing his youngsters create history.

“We’re trying to create the next Declan Rice, the next Ben Johnson,” he said. “The dream is to create the next Mark Noble and find someone who will stay at the club for their whole career, and nights like this only make that even more likely, hopefully.”

Only time will tell.

(Top photo: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)