Arsenal poach another West Ham United player, questions must be asked
West Ham United have had a rather poor start to the 2024/25 season as they find themselves fourteenth in the Premier League table.
While things on the pitch haven’t gone quite to plan, things off of it haven’t gone much better either.
The Hammers’ summer transfer window was deemed a success by many and although not all Julen Lopetegui’s new arrivals have been fully integrated yet, the club should be performing far better.
In terms of their academy, the club have always had a fairly strong youth set-up but in recent seasons, they’ve found their best talent swooped up by other Premier League rivals.
The latest name to add to that list is 15-year-old Kyran Thompson. As reported by the Secret Scout on X [24 September], Arsenal won the race for the youngster ahead of many other Premier League sides.
While there’s no doubt that it’s a good move for Thompson, it makes you wonder whether the Hammers are doing enough to keep their best talent from exiting.
West Ham United need to do better
Thompson has finally had his move to the Emirates sealed after a summer of speculation that linked him with teams such as Newcastle and Tottenham [The Secret Scout, 24 July].
The Hammers’ academy has always been fairly solid with a plethora of talent making their way through the club’s youth ranks.
One of the biggest stories across the summer window was the club’s interest in Jhon Duran.
While a move never came to fruition as Aston Villa kept “changing the goalposts”, the fact that Lewis Orford was considered to be a part of the move says all that you need to know about the Hammers’ protection of their talent [Fabrizio Romano, 26 September].
If West Ham want to progress and make European football, their academy is going to be key to that success so that they can start to promote youngsters and focus their spending on key areas rather than trying to cover the entire squad.
In other West Ham news, an update has been provided on Niclas Fullkrug.
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