West Ham youngsters continue to show promise
The West Ham youngsters proved again that the future is bright for the club.
West Ham’s U23 side has continued to perform well in the PL2 league. At the beginning of the week they ran out 3-0 winners over Manchester United. That is despite some of their players being involved in the FA cup draw with Shrewsbury the day before.
This has once again strengthened claims for more of the youth players to be involved in the first team. The creativity on show is definitely exciting and if Hernandez has struggled to hit the ground running, young Toni Martinez has shown he can do it season after season at the club.
Whilst the results from the youth team aren’t as important to the club as the first team, it’s a welcome boost. It’s a real sign that the club has a future of nurturing at least some players who will be in the squad. And for once, they seem to be attacking minded.
6️⃣ points and 7️⃣ goals against Man United this season for the U23s 💪 pic.twitter.com/XuYFqLFIfu
— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 8, 2018
Two that have been at the forefront of most Hammers fans minds are Toni Martinez and Martin Samuelsen. Whilst they are not products of our academy, our youth scouts have done well to identify these talents. You only have to look at the goals scored to see that these players could both have something special.
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For Martinez, it is a simplicity that underpins his goalscoring. He never seems to do the spectacular, but his ability to find space when the defence is back and looking to contain a threat is very impressive. When he gets in the forward positions he is also very efficient, as shown with his header in this game.
Samuelsen, as shown by his goal against United, is a real ball player and aggressive dribbler. This is someone who could well make the leap up as long as he keeps his confidence. His ability to take players on is not something you see that often in someone who is also as team orientated as the Norwegian.
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But the other goalscorer, Grady Diangana, looks to be a genuine talent as well. Despite not starting, he took 6 minutes to make an impact for the Hammers as he chased in the rebound from his own shot. His cross, which delivered the chance on a plate for Martinez, was another real moment of quality. I for one hope these players start to make the push on to first team football soon.