West Ham United: Kevin Keen lauds ‘technical’ Daniel Rigge after what he did v Aston Villa U18s
West Ham academy manager Kevin Keen was impressed with Daniel Rigge as the Hammers claimed a 4-2 comeback victory over Aston Villa Under-18s on Saturday (9 March).
Keen’s youngsters are absolutely flying this season, topping the Premier League U18 Southern table with 40 points from 18 matches, while Villa are floating four places above the bottom.
Having recorded their third consecutive league victory, Rigge netted a hat-trick in the match to reach 10 goals for the season before grabbing his sixth assist of the campaign for West Ham’s fourth.
Speaking via the club’s official website on Saturday (9 March), Keen said: “There’s something about this group, there is a resilience, toughness and they kept going into injury time and were rewarded. It shows what this group is about and they want to hang in there until the end of the season.
“I’m so pleased for Dan Rigge too because he has been due a performance where all the little technical bits that perhaps people miss come off. He scored a great goal to equalise, then showed calmness to get the winner and created the fourth goal as well.”
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The West Ham academy is certainly an exciting place to be right now, with the U18s flying in the league. Having gone 2-0 down very early on, conceding both within three minutes, it was a thriller.
After getting one back in the 40th minute, Rigge equalised in the 90th minute before claiming his hat-trick in the seventh minute of added time, with Mehmet Halim netting a fourth.
David Moyes must be keeping tabs on the youth teams at the London Stadium, especially when it comes to the striker department. With Michail Antonio yet to make an impact since returning from injury, and Divin Mubama not being given a proper chance, there is an opening for a youngster.
Rigge has the potential to fill that gap in the senior team, having registered 10 goals and six assists this season, as well as being promoted to the fringes of the U21s side in the Premier League 2.
The youngster is likely going to need a loan spell at a lower league to get enough experience in the senior game, but he is definitely a talent to keep an eye on at West Ham.
In other West Ham news, Moyes and Tim Steidten must agree on a deal for one star man as £45million transfer news emerges.
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