Throughout this transfer window, West Ham were involved in negotiations with Aston Villa to sign young forward Jhon Duran. However, Villa rejected the Hammers offer and Duran stayed at the Villa Park this season. Now, the centre forward has started this season well, scoring two goals in the Premier League, and one of them came against West Ham in a 2-1 win for Aston Villa on the first match day of the new season.
Thus, several West Ham fans are surprised that the Hammers didn't increased their offer to sign Duran from Villa this summer. But Julen Lopetegui's side have a young forward with a similar profile as that of Jhon Duran, in their youth ranks. The forward is Josh Ajala, who joined West Ham from Chelsea's youth academy last year.
West Ham's promising forward with an impressive start to the new season
Ajala has started this season on a high note with an impressive brace against Southampton while playing for West Ham's U21 team. He followed his goal scoring form with another goal in a 1-0 win over Norwich. The 17-year-old has blistering pace and possesses great finishing which makes him a prolific striker inside the final third.
Speaking on his high potential, West Ham U21 coach Kenny Brown said,
"Josh is a natural finisher who had scored goals throughout his schoolboy years at Chelsea and is continuing his goalscoring feats here with us.Kenny Brown
It’s clear there is so much more to come from Josh, and we are all pleased to see him take the next step in his career with West Ham."
Ajala has been making rapid progress for West Ham's youth teams and he is nearly the same age as Jhon Duran, therefore, West Ham could consider giving Ajala some playing time with the first team in the coming seasons. If Ajala keeps his impressive form throughout the end of the season, West Ham would have a great talent from their youth academy to bolster their attack for years to come.