Tony Cottee impressed with West Ham academy talent Sonny Perkins
Tony Cottee has showered heaps of praise on West Ham youngster Sonny Perkins after he made his debut on Thursday in the Europa League.
West Ham won 2-0 against Rapid Vienna to progress to the knock-out rounds of the competition, emerging as group toppers.
Perkins came off the bench and could have got his name on the scoresheet, but his header was saved by the Vienna goalkeeper.
Cottee has praised him heavily, and he was left impressed with West Ham still producing young talents and giving them opportunities.
He wrote on Twitter: “Well done to Sonny Perkins on making his debut. Great to see the Academy still producing players and I personally love to see a 17-year-old being given a chance! A day I will never forget of mine… Looking forward to seeing Sonny progress.”
Bright future
Over the years, West Ham have produced some fantastic talents from their academy who have gone on to represent the club for a long time.
The likes of Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, and Rio Ferdinand are all products of West Ham’s fabled academy.
In the current set up, Mark Noble and Declan Rice have also emerged from the youth ranks at the club.
It’s a great feeling to see an academy talent doing well for the senior team, and Cottee wants to see more from Perkins in the future.
The 17-year-old is highly-rated at the London Stadium. He has been in fine form for the Hammers youth teams so far, and David Moyes will be very excited to see another fantastic talent breaking into the senior side.
Moyes has always given chances to young talents in his managerial career, and Perkins is expected to get more chances in the future for the senior side.
In other West Ham news, Carlton Cole compared the Irons defender to John Terry.
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