OPINION
They say that every cloud has a silver lining, but the flip side of that is that ever silver lining has a cloud. Take West Ham’s stellar academy system as an example. The quality of player that comes out of east London on a regular basis is genuinely impressive, and the likes of Declan Rice and Grady Diangana look as if they could have long and prosperous careers at the very top of the professional game. The downside of producing that much talent, however, is that somewhere along the line, you have to cut some players adrift. It is almost impossible for every youth player to get their crack at the first team, no matter how talented they are. Take Marcus Browne. The midfielder enjoyed a fantastic season on loan at Oxford United last term, hitting six goals in 34 League One games, but according to ExWHUemployee, that hasn’t been enough to convince Manuel Pellegrini of his worth, and the 21-year-old is reportedly on his way to Middlesbrough to complete a permanent exit from the club. Browne has bucketloads of potential, and if the Hammers are smart they will include either a sell-on or buy-back clause in his deal, but all things considered, this just shows how ridiculously high the bar is for youngsters coming up through the ranks.
Forever West Ham have gathered some of the best tweets below:
