Outgoing West Ham academy manager Terry Westley has predicted that winger Nathan Holland will be the next youngster to make a first team, breakthrough.
In recent years Declan Rice, Grady Diangana, Ben Johnson and Xande Silva have all progressed to Manuel Pellegrini’s senior side, and Westley believes Holland will join them soon.
“Had he remained injury free he would maybe have had his chances before now but I have few doubts that he’s going to be a very big player,” he told Claret & Hugh.
Westley also revealed that it’s Holland’s outstanding change of speed which marks him out as something “a little bit special”.
OPINION
Holland is clearly highly thought of within the West Ham academy. He has been earmarked for some time now as the next player to really explode in the same way Rice has done with the first team. For Diangana it’s been a gradual integration into the senior side, while Johnson and Silva have had to be content with the odd appearance here and there. Holland, though, is someone who people very much expect to be a fixture in Pellegrini’s side before long. The Hammers haven’t always had consistent production from wide areas this season, where Felipe Anderson, Michail Antonio etc. have bounced in and out of form. It’s too early to forecast Holland as the answer out wide, but he certainly has the potential to become a big player for West Ham before long. Clearly that’s what Westley is expecting and, when it comes to Hammers academy products, he knows what he’s talking about.
