West Ham youngster Toni Martinez is being tipped for a break through to the first team by Academy Director Terry Westley in the new year.
Martinez signed a three-year contract with the Hammers in April but has had to settle for life in the U23’s which has been rebranded Premier League 2.
Despite missing the start of the season though injury, the 19-year-old is taking the development league by storm. Martinez scored a hat trick in the Hammers’ 4-0 victory over Wolves earlier this week, taking his tally to 12 goals in just 11 appearances.
“Toni’s on double figures and he missed probably six weeks of the season,” Westley told West Ham’s official website.
“He has come from abroad, has had to settle, has been learning the language. That shows just how well he has done. He’s an out-and-out goalscorer. He puts his foot through the ball and he’s clinical. Toni’s record is frightening at the moment.”
The striker has scored 12 goals in 11 appearances for the development squad and could make the jump on the first bench with Diafra Sakho ruled out for 8-10 weeks and Simone Zaza set to leave in January.
Of course we have all been here before with both Freddie Sears and Elliot Lee, who both set the development squad alight but failed to break through to the the first team. Sears joined Colchester in 2012 scoring 28 goals from 91 appearances before joining Ipswich in 2015 where he has scored 17 goals from 81 appearances. Elliot Lee was another promising striker who left West Ham Academy after failing to get his contract renewed last year. He joined Barnsley last summer and has made 3 appearances in the Championship and has been on the bench 11 times this season.
He has done everything to earn his chance, he is not the same as Elliot Lee or Sears in that he comes alive in the box in the same way as a Defoe or a Kevin Phillips, it is such a huge step up from U23 to PL that it really is impossible to say whether he will be successful or not and I think to some degree these youth players rely a decent amount on luck, if you are fortunate and score or have a great game first up as a young fearless player you could think yes I belong at this level and for some of those young players they never look back. I hope he does get a shot and takes it, he could certainly be the answer to our question about a striker, it will be very difficult for us to sign one so it will be brilliant if we can unleash one that is already our own COYI !!!