West Hamās Young Player of the Season, Ollie Scarles, has enjoyed the kind of breakthrough campaign thatās given everyone in the Hammers academy a huge boost.
The young wing-back was immediately put into the West Ham first team following the arrival of new Irons boss Graham Potter in Januaryāand Scarles didnāt disappoint, as highlighted by his Man of the Match Premier League performance against Arsenal.
However, the 19-year-old has been absent from the teamāand even the squadāin recent weeks, prompting questions about what the future holds for him.
Claret & Hugh spoke directly to a source at West Ham today and asked if there was a possibility of Scarles being loaned out next season to gain experience. The reply will no doubt come as a huge boost to the FA Youth Cup-winning star, who appears to have the full backing of the club.
āItās far too early to say. But the intention is heāll be first choice or immediate back-up.
No decisions will be made on loans for young players until after pre-season,ā was the response from our source.
Thereās always an understandable note of caution when discussing young players, but it seems those whoāve read too much into Scarlesā absence from Potterās recent team sheets neednāt have worried. Itās clear the club have big plans for him.
With Earthy..Kodua…Potts and Scarles…Theres the making of a hungry side there…Add Bowen and AWB…Get a decent keeper…Kelleher…We aint too far away..These are not kids anymore…They need to be trusted.
I think the way he was discarded after one dodgy half against one of the best players in the world ( Salah ) was yet another dreadful decision by potter. Talk about shatter someoneās confidence
The best type of experience he can get is to be thrown in the deep end and be first pick left-back. it’s obvious the kid wants to play football for West-Ham. so give him what he wants messing around loaning him out again, its gonna take 6 or 8 games to get us to a team and players around him out on loan, whereas he knows the Hammers first team. Potter should get some ”BALLS” and stick up and by the kid and let him lay FFS. C O Y I’s
Cheers Paul.
If he’s not going to play a fair proportion of games, I’d loan him out- look at how positively it’s turned out for the likes of Potts and Earthy particularly.
And what a waste of a season it’s been for Casey; I feel he would definitely have benefitted from regular football.
And Guilherme whose got home grown status.