ExWHUemployee: Kai Corbett has left West Ham for first-team football
Attacking sensation Kai Corbett has left West Ham United in search of first-team football, according to trusted club insider ExWHUemployee.
The youth team player, 18, featured regularly for the under-18s and under-23s last term, but he believes a quick pathway to senior football was not guaranteed at the London Stadium.
Corbett joined West Ham academy in 2014 as a 12-year-old, netting on his debut for the development squad in 2019-20 and hitting the equaliser in the under-21s’ 5-4 comeback win at Newport County in the Papa John’s trophy.
He has left in search of greener pastures, with Ex writing on the West Ham Way Patreon: ‘He left West Ham in the summer because he wanted first team football and felt that he deserved it.
“He did similar when he organised a trial for himself at Manchester United but they decided not to keep him on.
“West Ham are said not to have stood in his way and he is currently looking for a club at this precise moment.”
Impatience
Academy boss Kevin Keen was quick to shower praise on him, calling him a talented player who brought a maturity to the team which certainly makes a difference in under-18 football [WHUFC.COM].
The teenager was also in fine form as the season went on, scoring once and assisting twice in a 5-0 demolition of Norwich under-18 as the Keen’s side bagged a place in the FA Youth Cup fifth round.
He is surely confident of his talents and abilities for him to have walked out on the club, but it takes patience to become a professional, and someone needs to tell Corbett that.
We believe seeing fellow Hammers youngster Ademipo Odubeko, 18, training and playing with the first-team would have triggered that decision.
He rejected a two-year professional deal with the Irons, as he felt that the arrival of Thierry Nevers from Reading would limit his playing opportunities and first-team chances going forward [The Athletic], and we can only hope he has made a wise decision for the sake of his career.
In other West Ham news, Hammers man makes transfer admission live on talkSPORT.
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