The West Ham United under-18s have made an extremely poor start to the 2024/25 season.
The under-18s have taken just two points from their opening three games this season, and questions are being asked of the West Ham youngsters.
However, I think the poor form of the U-18s is actually very exciting for us in the grand scheme of things.
The Hammers are well known for having one of the very best academies in England, with numerous high level youngsters coming through the ranks right now.
Lewis Orford is one of those, and he hit the headlines this week when he signed a new five-year contract with the Hammers.
Whilst Orford is one of the best of the current crop of youngsters, there are plenty of other teenagers who are pushing him for the title of the most talented player in the group.
Ollie Scarles and George Earthy are probably the two other most well known youngsters at the club right now.
However, there is a new contingent of players shining for the under-21s now who are only 17-19 years of age.
Real reason West Ham under-18s have been so bad this season
The Hammers under-18s’ form has been rather concerning so far this season.
For a club with a reputation of producing so many talented teenagers, the results and performances really haven’t been good enough.
However, there’s genuine reason for optimism as far as I’m concerned.
The reason why the under-18s are struggling so badly is because they’ve lost so many players who’ve stepped up to the under-21s.
It was something that Mark Noble highlighted last year.
The West Ham Sporting Director suggested that the reason why so many under-21 stars were being let go was because of the sheer volume of talent coming through the under-18 ranks.
And now the long-term plan seems to be coming to fruition.
West Ham under-21s in great shape
Whilst the under-18s are struggling, the under-21s have looked bang on the money so far this season.
Mark Robson’s men have won all three of our league games so far this term, scoring eight and conceding only one.
The likes of Ezra Mayers, 17, Favour Fawunmi, 18, Sean Moore, 19, Tyron Akpata, 18, and Josh Ajala, 17 have all made the jump up to the under-21s from the under-18s this season.
And none of them look out of place so far.
The future is very bright indeed, especially when you put those names next to the likes of Lewis Orford, George Earthy, Ollie Scarles, Kaelan Casey and Gideon Kodua.
In my opinion, the Hammers were right to move on the likes of Aji Alese, Jamal Baptiste, Divin Mubama, Pierre Ekwah and Sonny Perkins over the past 18 months or so.
We all questioned those decisions at the time, but it’s now obvious to see why they were all allowed to leave.
The under-21s are an exceptionally talented group of young footballers. The only bad news is that the West Ham under-18s have suffered as a result of losing so many teenagers to the next age group.
Related Topics