West Ham’s annual ‘Young Hammer of the Year’ award, amongst other indicators, can be a great pointer towards future stardom: Only once in the last ten years has the awarding of the title really lead to a ‘stellar’ breakthrough – in 2017, 2018 and 2019 that award went to one Declan Rice and that turned out pretty well for the club both on and off the pitch. Several promising young players have had successful careers without ever hitting the absolute pinnacle: Freddie Sears (2011), James Tomkins – (2008) and Jack Collison (2009) all had admirable careers until time or injury curtailed them.
The expectation is high for 2024 award winner George Earthy – time will tell whether he is a ‘Declan Rice’ or a ‘Reece Oxford’ of the future.
Coming up behind Earthy’s age group is the next generation of West Ham youngsters and the Guardian has highlighted the top teen talent around the country and settled on West Ham’s Airidas Golambeckis as a potential ‘prospect’ of the future.
He is seen as being :”Prized because of his elegant defending and his ease in possession [which] should stand him in good stead given the growing importance of playing out from the back. It also makes central midfield an option for the 16-year-old”.
Already a debutant at England Under 18 level having represented Lithuania in his younger years, Golambeckis has made such progress that he has featured in West Ham’s Under 21 ‘s Premier League 2 campaign.
At just sixteen years old, the teenager has a big mountain to climb where the failure rate is high: Reece Oxford experienced vast success as a teenager and then failed to fulfil his enormous potential. The West Ham academy now takes centre stage in trying to nurture all of this young talent and keep the best at the club.
As we saw with the Jhon Duran saga, it is not easy to hang on the next generation starlet as they have become an asset to be traded at such a young age: West Ham’s Duran negotiations at one time included £30 million ‘plus Lewis Orford’ – whether that came from Aston Villa or from The Irons we will never know.
Profit and Sustainability Rules and Financial Propriety have become ever more important in this world of football, less a ‘sport’ now and more an entertainment business. The buying and selling of academy players has assumed greater significance as their ‘worth’ to a club – pure profit on the balance sheet – often overrides their natural talent in the way they are seen as ‘disposable assets’.
In an era when teenagers have become big business, it would be wonderful to see another talent like Golambeckis make it all the way through behind George Earthy into the Hammers’ first eleven and to the success beyond.