West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini is likely to hand Hammers starlet Nathan Holland a big opportunity to impress in pre season, according to Claret & Hugh.
The outlet claims that the Chilean will grant the 20-year-old the chance to grab his attention this summer, as he looks for someone to replicate Declan Rice’s pre-season impact of a couple of years ago.
Holland has long been viewed as an extremely bright prospect within the West Ham academy, and it was only due to injuries that fellow youngster Grady Diangana jumped ahead of him in the pecking order this season.
The winger is one of the young players foremost in Pellegrini’s thoughts, along with Ben Johnson and Dan Kemp.
OPINION
This is exactly what the West Ham fans will have wanted to read. Holland is one of the brightest talents within the club’s academy and has been for a long time now. For a lot of people, it’s a surprise that he’s yet to make the breakthrough at senior level. As mentioned, he was seen as the next big thing, so it was a shock that Diangana got in ahead of him. However, that was obviously due to injuries and not any failings on Holland’s part. We have seen this season that Pellegrini is more than happy to hand youngsters their opportunities if he thinks they are ready, so Holland will surely get his chance soon. Pre season is the ideal time for the former Manchester City boss to run the rule over him. He’ll be able to see how he meshes with the first team and whether he looks like he can make an impact at Premier League level in the future. It would be a surprise if he didn’t work his way into the manager’s plans next season, though, because he is a hugely gifted youngster.
