We speak out on West Ham in a State of the Youth adress
West Ham United is correctly nicknamed The Academy of Football and rightly so. This offseason has had the opportunity to crumble the youth with a lot of changeover but on the contrary, the Academy at West Ham had thrived.
The latest piece of news out of the West Ham Academy is Dmitri Halajko taking over the Under-23 squad. The 39-year-old is coming over from Leicester City where he was the Head of Player development for all players from the ages of 9 to 23. Before that, 20 years of developmental coaching experience.
He and Steve Potts will be working together as they will be guiding the youth lads and preparing them for Manuel Pellegrini’s squad. Newly acquired Academy Manager, Ricky Martin (the football player not Latin singer), spoke highly of Dmitri saying “I am really pleaser that Dmitri has agreed to join us and it is a real coup to have appointed someone of his experience and ability.”
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The other big changes back off wise was getting Martin in as the Manager. The will be huge for the Academy as he had stellar years coaching the youth at Norwich. With the loss of Jack Collison and the hiring of Kevin Keen to help with the Under-18 squad was also a good hire for the Academy this offseason hopefully picking up right where Collison left off.
On a player note, the Academy is thriving. West Ham have resigned Amadou Diallo, wanted by some big European sides according to ExWHUemployee in The West Ham Ways latest podcast, which at 16 was playing with the U23 team this past season successfully.
Former Academy coach Collison spoke highly of him here. It is also very clear when you look at how Pellegrini is running the first squad that he wants to involve the youth, something not seen clearly in sometime.
As reported about a month ago, the U21’s will be playing for the EFL Trophy this coming season. What this means for the West Ham U21’s is that they and 15 other Category 1 academy teams will play against the 48 teams from League 1 and League 2. This is hugely important as it will not only get the kids travel time but get them playing against solid completion.
dark. Next. £65+ what player turns West Ham’s head for Issa Diop?
From keeping young talent in and hiring experienced coaching The Academy of Football is certainly earning its name back. Not to mention that for the first time in years the push for excellence from the senior squad all the way to the low levels of developmental training is at an all-time high.