Could Sam Caiger Be West Ham’s Next Academy Star?

West Ham is widely known as the “Academy Of Football” producing World Cup and Champions League winners. In recent years the club has seen little from the famous academy until Declan Rice and Jeremy Ngakia.

Many factors hinder the success of academy graduates, from the competition with established senior players, troublesome agents, poor showings in loan moves and lack of opportunities.

These problems did not arise for Rice and Ngakia, and now they are considered first-team players. Rice has even become a crucial player for West Ham and is now a full international for England. The success of giving youngsters chances becomes evident.

The same can be said about Ngakia taking his chance. A bad injury to first-choice right-back Ryan Fredericks and Pablo Zabaleta ageing fast led to Ngakia’s debut which he grabbed with both hands. Ngakia is now believed by some to be the future for the Hammers.

West Ham is in desperate need for a new left-back. Current options Aaron Cresswell has become very inconsistent and Arthur Masuaku remains a winger being played out of position. One issue is buying a left-back of Premier League quality can be an expensive business.

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There is a young man by the name of Sam Caiger currently in the academy who could save the Hammers millions. Caiger has impressed in the youth set-up since he began his scholarship in 2018 and has pushed on further in the last year.

Caiger had been promoted from the under 18s to the under 23s after his fine form. The 18-year-old played twelve games scoring twice for the under 18s and has now cemented his spot in the under 23s, playing six times. The Englishman is always willing to get forward and finds success when he does. This is where the youngster can get ahead of Cresswell the thirty-year-old has lost a yard of pace due to injuries in the last couple of years.

Arthur Masuaku’s time at the club seems to be running out fast, despite flashes of brilliance, the DR Congo international is too accident-prone. Masuaku is likely to leave the club and Caiger should be given a chance to impress in the first-team squad.

Caiger has high aspirations and hopes to emulate his hero Philip Lahm. If Caiger has even a quarter of the talent of the German legend, then West Ham would have a very capable player to become the clubs left-back for the next decade.

Manager David Moyes has publicly said that he wants to build a younger squad, so why not look internally at the Hammer’s own youngsters? There’s only one way to find the next Rice or Ngakia.