West Ham United coach Dmitri Halajko singled out Sonny Perkins for praise after the teenager scored his first Premier League 2 goal during last night’s 3-1 defeat to Derby County, speaking to the official Hammers website.
You may have heard Derby County are having a difficult time of it right now, in danger of a points deduction that could rise to 24 and facing little choice but to prepare for life in League One before we’ve even reached October (Daily Mail).
The success of Derby’s youth teams should at least warm the cockles of a fanbase fearing what the future may hold for this proud old club.
The Rams can boast one of Britain’s most prosperous academies at present and more than deserved their 3-1 victory over a usually impressive West Ham side last night.
Is Sonny Perkins a star in the making for West Ham?
“It’s a disappointing performance,” said the straight-talking Halajko at full-time. “It’s come off the back of two really good performances against Leeds and Ipswich, where we were really happy with the progress.
“Tonight, we haven’t reached anywhere near those levels and that’s a big disappointment. When you perform below par in games like this, you will get punished, especially at this level.”
Halajko could at least take pleasure in seeing Perkins open his account for the U23s at the age of just 17.
“It was great for Sonny to grab his first goal for the development team,” added the former Leicester City and Norwich coach.
“He’s done really well with the U18s, scoring a lot of goals at that level. Sonny hasn’t trained a lot with this group, and he’s done well in both games he’s been brought on.
“He’s shown some really good things in those games and we hope he will continue to do so.”
A versatile wide forward, Perkins could be tasked with filling a void created by the departure of Kai Corbett, the much-admired winger who joined top-flight rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers on trial earlier this month.
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