Michael Forbes is making an impression for West Ham United’s Under 23 side with coach Mark Robson hailing the 17-year-old’s ‘exceptional’ form, speaking to the Hammers official website.
If you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
That is the approach David Moyes has taken when handing a whole host of talented youngsters opportunities in the West Ham first-team this season.
Aji Alese, Dan Chesters, Sonny Perkins, Harrison Ashby, Keenan Forson and Freddie Potts have all played their part in an outstanding campaign for the London giants, rewarded after shining for a U23 side sitting second behind reigning champions Manchester City in the Premier League 2 table.
West Ham’s next generation
Forbes, a regular at U18 level, is starting to climb the ranks too, introduced off the bench during West Ham’s 4-3 victory over Everton on Monday evening.
And Robson is full of praise for a 17-year-old centre-back who continues to hold his own against players far further down the line in their development.
“Michael has come in a few times for us and he has done exceptionally well. He didn’t get too many minutes in this game. But he was calm and comfortable on the ball, which was really pleasing,” says Robson.
“Divin (Muamba) has also come on a few times for us and he’s worked his socks off every time. They are two players of a number of players who have been doing well in the U18s.
“We also had Archie Woods on the bench and he’s played in a cup game for us. It was also good to see George Earthy with us. Maybe, if we’d been a bit more comfortable in terms of scoreline, we might have got one of them on.
“They’re doing well in the U18s and these lads deserve to get an opportunity with us. I thought the two lads who came on did well.”
Perkins cannot stop scoring
Sonny Perkins scored twice against Everton, while Emannuel Longelo and former Arsenal starlet Armstrong Okoflex were also on target. Perkins now has 14 goals this season, one more than Okoflex.
“Some of our football was first class,” Robson adds.
“We were disappointing in our last game. Really disappointing. We didn’t play forward enough but we did it really well against Everton.
“It was something we looked at in training and in videos. We tried to create something positive in terms of getting back to the level we know they can play at.
“Fair play to the boys because they did that superbly in this match.”
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