Former Hammer Anton Ferdinand says he is proud to be a West Ham after seeing 5 academy products on the pitch at the same time adding that it is brilliant that David Moyes carrying on the trend at the club.
Academy graduates Nathan Trott, Oladapo Afolayan and Jamal Baptiste made their senior competitive debuts last night joining other Academy graduates Ben Johnson and captain Mark Noble on the pitch.
33-year-old Noble was born in Canning Town and played for Barking Colts before he moved to Arsenal’s academy at age 11. His father, however, who would drive him to training, could not always arrange the time to get Noble to training sessions due to the distance from their home in Beckton so he moved to the West Ham academy making his debut in the senior team at the age of just 17 in the League Cup in August 2004 in a 2–0 win against Southend United.
Ben Johnson joined West Ham at the age of seven. Originally an attacking winger, Johnson was converted to a full-back as his youth career progressed. He was named on the bench for West Ham’s 2–1 loss at Manchester City on 3 December 2017, and he signed his first professional contract when he turned 18 in January 2018. On 27 February 2019, Johnson made his Premier League debut for West Ham, starting at left-back away at champions Manchester City in a 1–0 defeat at the City of Manchester Stadium.