You would struggle to find many former West Ham United players who are held in higher regard than Jack Collison.
Collison played 105 games for West Ham, scoring 11 goals, including crucial strikes in the Championship Play-Off semi-final victory over Cardiff City in 2012.
After graduating to the West Ham first team from the club’s famous academy under Alan Curbishley, Collison was one of the hottest prospects around.
But a series of devastating injuries restricted his playing time and he was forced to retire this year aged just 27.
He will forever be remembered for playing for the club in a famous cup win over bitter rivals Millwall just days after his dad had died in a motorbike crash on the way to watching his emerging son against Tottenham Hotspur.
West Ham fans will forever wonder just what might have been for Collison at West Ham had he not suffered the injuries which ultimately cut short such a promising career.
The former midfielder, who is now a youth coach at the club, still holds his playing days dear, though, and has been reminiscing about his time with the Hammers youth team.
Taking to social media site Twitter, Collison posted a picture of himself surrounded by his then youth teammates as he celebrated scoring a last minute winner at Chadwell Heath.
“Stumbled across this the other day,” Collison said on Twitter.
“Last minute winner for the Youth Team back in the day.
“This is why I love the game.”
Collison’s post poses the question what would a young Collison be worth in today’s market.
A British box-to-box midfielder with a knack for scoring goals would set a club back at least £40 million in the modern game.
He is one of a number of fan favourites West Ham fans have had to watch hang up their boots too soon, Dean Ashton another.
Let’s hope he is the last.
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