West Ham Youngsters Martin Samuelsen and Reece Burke Sign New Contracts

West Ham have looked to get the academy of football back on track this season after some lean years and in the past two days have confirmed that contracts of two of their brightest stars have been extended in order to ward off interest.

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Reece Burke and Martin Samuelsen are already fan favourites, and they’ve barely started their careers. Burke is a hard working centre back, and Sameulsen an extremely tricky winger. Both of these positions and personalities will endear themselves quickly to the West Ham faithful.

Reece Burke

What more can you want from a centre back than what Burke can give? He is strong in the tackle, good in the air and calm on the ball. If he played for the fashionable clubs there’d be people all over him in the press.

Burke has been with the club throughout his youth career, and has progressed rapidly in the past few years. He excelled at Bradford last year and is reported to be seeking a new loan deal to the Championship this year.

There’s no official word regarding his involvement this season, but Bilic seems keen to have him around the first team squad, especially given the potential Europa League campaign. If he does go on loan, Brighton seems a viable option at the moment.

I want him around the first team, especially give his versatility. This would allow other players (Antonio) to play in a more natural position more often.

Martin Samuelsen

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Probably my favourite youth player at the moment. He’s full of tricks and skills, willing to take people on to provide for his team.

Take a look at his run that lead to a penalty on Monday, and you’ll see what I mean. Too long we have kept players that play a very predictable game, but I think Samuelsen can break that mould. The Norwegian is potentially joining Brighton on loan as he seeks to bulk up and get regular match time.

He has recently been called up into the international squad alongside fellow hammer Nordtveit. All of us here at Green Street Hammers would like to congratulate him on his success!

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What Next For West Ham?

The club are obviously intent on building for the future, and that means two things.

Firstly you need to keep your best talent at the club. The process has started, but I’m sure Gold & Sullivan will also be looking to keep Reece Oxford from wandering off to another club.

Secondly you have to continue to producing the talent that feeds the club. This means not letting up in the search for youth talent, and showing young players that this is a club they can come to if they want their dreams of being a football star to become reality.