West Ham United fans thought – back in the summer friendly series in Florida – that this season would surely be Freddie Potts’ breakthrough campaign. 2025/6 was supposed to see West Ham’s homegrown talent kick on and make a first team place his own after impressing in the Premier League Summer Series under Graham Potter.
However – that wasn’t to be. Potter sheltered him, claiming his career could be blighted by too many stressful game at the bottom of the table – this despite Potts being a veteran of Portsmouth’s relegation campaign in the championship the year before.
The loanee turned out 38 times at Fratton Park in 2024/5 and helped the club secure their EFL Championship status.
Potts was a regular in the Championship side
At 22 years old Potts needs to be playing week in, week out
When Potts his earned his first Premier League start against Newcastle with a man of the match award to boot, Hammers fans thought he’d well and truly arrived. However since then he’s been left out more often than not, hooked at half time and red carded in a FA cup fixture. He now struggles to get onto the pitch in Nuno’s line ups.
Perhaps, then, Potts isn’t destined for a West Ham future? Footballleagueworld.com seem to think that he’ll be Championship-bound in the summer. Their article today suggests both Derby County and Preston would be interested in his services, but the clear favourite would be a return to Fratton Park to work under the same manager who rated him so highly in 2024/5:
“If Potts does end up being touted for a move this summer, there’s no doubt that Portsmouth will be interested, given the impact that the 22-year-old had in the engine room at Fratton Park last season.
Potts waxed lyrical about the Portsmouth fanbase and went on record to praise the club during his time there, so if he was to move somewhere to rediscover the form that allowed him to break into the West Ham fold this year, why not revisit that exact environment?”
With Fernandes, Soucek and even Mohamadou Kante now looking likely to get on the pitch ahead of him, it may be time for Freddie to consider his future away from West Ham: At 22 he needs to be playing regular football as he approaches his peak.
part of the reason hes played less minutes is the change in formation to 442, leaving just 2 places in the centre. Nuno has hit upon his best combo in the middle with Fernandesand teflon Tom, so these 2 are going start every possible game.
but Soucek isnt getting any younger, kante is still raw as is magassa inconsistent. Under this new system potts is a decent squad player to cover, who at 22 has
time to improve.
keep him
Is there nobody at West Ham that can work with him one on one to turn him into the finished article (maybe not his dad, depending on their relationship). He has to be a better long-term prospect than Soucek. If he doesn’t improve, at least he will have trade value.
👍 – agree completely
He looks like the type of midfielder who looks up to play assists and through balls, or long passes to the corner flag. Like all good players you see of this type, he needs to learn the tricks and ways to beat a player or two, make some space & gain some time to make those passes. Magassa is another type of midfielder as is Kante, so if they improve they each bring something different.
Potts needs to step up a level, or become more accomplished, but to me looks as though he is nearly there but needs a helping hand.
I think Potts and Magassa minutes against Wolves was only because they were so poor against Leeds first half so Nuno wanted to give them back a little confidence back.
But Potts is looking every inch a level just short of Prem but perhaps too good for Champ. As the older of that 4 ball (Fernandes, Magassa, Kante) he really does need to do better when given his chances.
He’s a young player Martin and they are notoriously inconsistent. Who’s to say Kante won’t go through the same progression path as both Potts and Magassa. Not every young player develops like Fernandes and that’s why half the Premier League are monitoring him. Look at Mainoo at Man Utd, the next big thing, fast tracked into the England team and then his form went off a cliff and is only just recovering now under Carrick. We complained that our squad was too old so let’s not crucify the kids we now have in the squad
I think Mainoo only sufferered because the manager that many hammers fans wanted as our manager was as intransigent as Graham potter and would only play one system that Cobbi didn’t fit into. I thought Potts was absolutely brilliant when he first played for us. But he has been really poor in some games notably Villa and Wolves away. Where he didn’t look like he cared at all. It was good to see Nuno bring him on against Wolves the other night along with magassa sending the message you still have a part to play before the season is over.
💯 Spot On ✔️