OPINION
West Ham have a ridiculously good thing going with their youth system at the moment. With Declan Rice making waves last season, Ben Johnson making his full debut against Manchester City and with Grady Diangana knocking on the door for much of the campaign, Manuel Pellegrini already has a decent set of youngsters regularly pulling on the famous claret and blue. And by the looks of things, they could have a new influx of fresh talent to inject into the first team next year too. Xande Silva is tipped for big things, as are teenage midfielder Conor Coventry and winger Nathan Holland, but not was Joe Powell who caught the eye on Friday afternoon. The Hammers had an U23s clash against Anderlecht’s reserves, and by half time Powell had netted himself a brace, with his second coming from an audacious lob from the halfway line. Now, there are a lot of ways to stake a claim for a first team spot, but there are few as impressive or immediate as banging one on from your own half. According to the Hammers’ official website, the 20-year-old is capable of playing in a variety of positions, including at left-back, and he impressed with two goals and an assist during a 10 game stint with Northampton Town during the second half of last season. A few more performances like this, and he could get his chance to lob Premier League goalkeepers from different postcodes very soon.
Forever West Ham have gathered some of the best tweets below:
