When you think of West Ham one of the things that immediately come to mind is, of course, the Academy of Football.
The Hammers are famed for producing some of the finest footballers in the country over the years with recent times seeing the likes of Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand come through.
We’ve seen Mark Noble go on to captain the side, too, and those stories are testament to the ability of the youth coaching staff of developing players.
The hope is now, with the new stadium and financial packages in place, that the club will be able to bring through even more top young players because, as every fan will tell you, the future of their football club is one of the most important things to them.
Sometimes, though, players simply just can’t manage to make it at the high levels that West Ham operate at. It really is just part and parcel of the game.
So, with that in mind, here are two such players that didn’t quite make it for the Hammers when they were coming up the ranks…
