West Ham United must try to move up nationwide academy rankings
West Ham United are always proud to call their youth setup the “Academy of Football” but they don’t top the country’s productivity rankings.
According to the statistics and algorithms put together by the Training Ground Guru, the Irons only have the seventh most productive academy in the country.
Topping the charts are the Hammers’ London rivals Chelsea while Manchester United and Arsenal follow them very closely but most worryingly for West Ham, Everton have jumped ahead of them and into sixth place.
While there have been some very good products come through at Rush Green in recent years such as Declan Rice and Ben Johnson, the spread of Hammers players elsewhere in England’s top five leagues is few and far between.
There are some hanging around in the lower tiers such as Anthony Scully and Nathan Holland, among others, but nothing to the extent of Chelsea, United or Arsenal who are well clear of the rest.
For West Ham to go from perennial best of the rest to a genuine member of the country’s elite clubs they have to start bringing through more youth players than they have been even if they fail to make the grade at the London Stadium.
That will require David Moyes putting much more trust in the club’s academy talent than he has been doing so far with the likes of Conor Coventry, Armstrong Okoflex and Emmanuel Longelo being very patient with West Ham amid a lack of game time at senior level.
There is no doubt that the talent is there at Rush Green, just waiting to be unleashed – or at the very least given a chance – but the manager has been stubborn in not playing them unless it is a truly meaningless game.
These youngsters need to play in pressurised situations from a young age and not be baby-coddled too much to the point where they get to 23 years of age and haven’t played a meaningful game in their careers.