By Joe Ellis

4th Nov, 2022 | 11:10am

West Ham United academy leaves Declan Rice wowed in 'incredible' Twitter claim

West Ham secured their sixth win out of six in the Europa Conference League against FCSB and also gave full debuts to two academy starlets.

Divin Mubama has been in very good form for the Irons’ youth sides and was rewarded with a start up front while 16-year-old Ollie Scarles started at left wing-back having previously made the bench against Silkeborg a week prior.

They were joined by Kamarai Simon-Swyer and Kaelan Casey who came off the bench for their first games in claret and blue along with Freddie Potts and Keenan Appiah-Forson.

Club captain Declan Rice was left at home as a precaution to ensure he would be fit to face Crystal Palace on Sunday (6 November) and he took to Twitter to express his joy at seeing academy starlets get their chance.

“Another incredible night for our Academy,” he said having come through the ranks himself following his release from Chelsea as a teenager.

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No matter how often a football fan sees it happen, they will never tire of seeing one of their club’s own academy graduates make their debut on the big stage.

West Ham have been better than most at that for several years now and with the result in Romania not entirely important with top spot secured before kick-off it was the perfect opportunity for David Moyes to do it with no consequences.

Both Scarles and Mubama looked the part on their debuts for the club and in senior football so won’t have done their cases for more appearances any harm.

It is probably too soon for either of them to be considered for regular starts or even substitute appearances in the Premier League where the competition is going to be much more fierce on a weekly basis.

But if an injury crisis hits at the London Stadium, that game in Bucharest has shown Moyes that he can trust the talented youth at Rush Green to come in and do a job at short notice.