West Ham United are very unlikely to see £30.5million striker Gianluca Scamacca in action until next season, with the 24-year-old set to undergo knee surgery.
It has been an injury-filled season for the Italian international, who to date, has already missed 13 West Ham matches this term in all competitions through a combination of injury and illnesses and is set to West Ham’s final nine Premier League matches this term, and between one and four more from the Europa Conference League.
That means that West Ham, even with everyone fully fit, have just 22 senior players in their squad, just two more than what is permitted in a Premier League match squad.
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West Ham boss David Moyes has not been shy in naming academy players in matchday squads in the Premier League this term when needing to make up the numbers. Goalkeeper Krisztian Hegyi, under-21s captain and fourth-choice stopper, has been included in a Premier League squad, as has young centre-back Kaelan Casey and striker Divin Mubama.
Left-back Ollie Scarles, centre-back Levi Lang, midfielders Freddie Potts and Kamarai Swyer have all also gotten senior minutes this term across competitions.
It is an incredibly exciting season for West Ham’s academy, especially at under-18s level. On Saturday afternoon, they could be crowned Under-18s Premier League South champions when they face Arsenal at Rush Green, while they could win the FA Youth Cup for the first time against the same opponents later this month.
Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium will forever hold a special place in the memory of young striker Mubama, who made his Premier League debut as a late substitute there on Boxing Day.
Although it was over six weeks after his making his first-team debut in full against FCSB in the Europa Conference League, West Ham had played just three times between the two.
That night in Bucharest proved to really kick-start Mubama’s season. Prior to that game, Mubama had only scored once in 12 matches for the under-18s and under-21s combined, but since that 3-0 win, Mubama has scored 29 goals in 20 youth team matches, as well as once in his first four senior appearances.
No matter what happens in Europe for West Ham this season, they are now a striker down and with the remaining nine Premier League matches in the next 37 days, as well as between one and three European matches by then, West Ham are almost certainly going to pick up at least the odd issue here or there.
Michail Antonio and Danny Ings are West Ham’s two main strikers, but outside of that, the Hammers are short on options with Scamacca out. Maxwel Cornet has had the odd cameo in that role, but has hardly played since his return from over five months out with a calf injury.
Moyes likes Mubama and has waxed lyrical about him on multiple occasions since.
Mubama could become an under-18s league champion (at regional level) in the next 24 hours, and an FA Youth Cup winner in ten days’ time, but perhaps his form and his chances in the first team may mean he gets a bigger reward than his list of youth accolades, a chance to really get some minutes for the first-team.
Thursday’s game with Gent was an example of exactly what the future may look like. In a 23-man squad and with only 22 senior players available, Mubama was the first man turned to complete the squad.
In four outings for the first-team so far, he has played a major role in a goal against FCSB, seeing his header turned in by Joyskim Dawa to make it 2-0.
Against AEK Larnaca last month, Mubama had been on for a matter of minutes when converting at the end of a Tomas Soucek header with a back-heeled flick that any striker in among the sport’s elite would have been proud of.
Yes, it is unlikely that he would make any more starts, but his pace, dribbling and knack of scoring goals has already made it too difficult for Moyes to ignore.
With Scamacca out and the games coming thick and fast, Mubama is the teenage prodigy perfect to benefit from this run of games.
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