West Ham United have secured the signing of talented French midfielder Mohamadou Kanté from Ligue 2’s Paris FC. The news, initially reported by Hammers insider ExWHUEmployee earlier this week, as part of the club’s strategy to scout and develop young talent.
The 18-year-old has signed a five-year contract with West Ham but will remain on loan at Paris FC for the 2024/25 season rather than join the Irons U21’s as was previously reported elsewhere.
Kanté, a Paris native, was a regular in Paris FC’s U19 squad last season and also made appearances for the club’s B team.
This development coincides with Brazilian club Corinthians submitting a transfer bid for Luizao, a central defender. West Ham have accepted the offer, which is believed to be a season-long loan deal with an option to buy the 22-year-old. Luizao, initially a speculative acquisition for the Hammers, never made an impact on the first team. . . something the club hope Kante will achieve.
How many prospects have we bought at this sort of age who have come through ? There’s plenty of examples like Luizao who don’t work out.
Not many come through the academy at all these days, the days of Cole, Lampard, Glen Johnson, etc seem to be firmly in the past.
We get £1.5M for players like Mubama who don’t look like they’re going to make it I guess returns a small profit on academy activity, but not if we pay a transfer fee and they don’t make it.
I sometimes wonder whether we’d be better off to just buy premier league quality players as and when needed, which is what we seem to have to do anyhow with so few coming through.
Recycles the Mubama money. Keeps the chip on the roulette table of young players making good.
I wish we use our academy a lot more. How will we know if they don’t make it, if they never get a chance?
I get more excited seeing a Youth player coming on than a big money signing.
Let’s hope Tim and Nobes reshuffle the Academy Pack