The boy’s a bit special
Matthias Fanimo is a member of West Ham’s Development Qquad, who plays predominantly as a left winger. He signed his first professional contract with the club back in the summer of 2011, before the 20-year-old penned a fresh deal in 2013, which will keep him at Upton Park until 2015.
Career highlights so far
Fanimo made his first team debut as a substitute in the League Cup Round Two victory against Crewe Alexandra in August 2012, before appearing in the defeat to Wigan Athletic during the preceding round that year. His only other first team appearance to date was during the infamous FA Cup Third Round match against Nottingham Forest last season, which the Hammers lost 5-0. Fanimo has also played for England at U16, U17 and U18 levels but no higher than that.
Perhaps the most noteworthy moment of his career occurred in May 2014, when incredibly, Fanimo was officially named as the fastest footballer on the planet, thanks to statistics that had been chalked up from GPS technology that West Ham use to track all of their academy players during matches. Bearing in mind he is registered as being capable of speeds faster than the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, that is certainly something to make you stand up and take notice.
Future Upton Park regular?
The management at West Ham must believe that Fanimo has the potential to be a first team regular at West Ham, having given him a renewed contract as recently as last year. He also made appearances in the recent pre-season tournament in New Zealand for the Hammers, which could suggest that he is well regarded by the coaching staff. It will be interesting to see if he makes the squad for the Capital One Cup tie against Sheffield United next week, where Sam Allardyce is likely to rest some of the first team regulars.
In addition, the speed that Fanimo possesses would alone surely be capable of worrying any defence, and he may well be viewed as a good weapon in the Hammers arsenal because of that.
Having said this, recent history goes against the chances of the youngster becoming a first team regular in the future. No one since James Tomkins has gone on to establish themselves in the main team from the West Ham Academy, and that was some years ago. With all the summer signings that have been made, it is also looking increasingly unlikely that Fanimo will get an opportunity to play in the Premier League any time soon. It would therefore perhaps be a good idea for the club to consider sending him out on loan to a club from the lower division in order to gain competitive experience, if they really believe he does has the talent to make it at a high level.
His most interesting tweet
Matthias Fanimo has a Twitter account which is @MFanimo40. A great tweet from him came from his reaction to the news that he had been named as the fastest player in the world, which he fully intended on milking as you would expect:
‘No doubt whose the quickest in the world #StatsDontLie’ accompanied by a picture of the chart which showed him at the top
