There is genuine excitement at Chadwell Heath about the latest crop of West Ham youngsters, after the club won the FA Youth Cup last season for the first time since the famous 1999 side that included the likes of Michael Carrick and Joe Cole.
There is concern, too, though, over their pathway into the first team.
A number of talented youngsters have walked away from the club before making breakthroughs in recent years, while the latest to try, teenage striker Divin Mubama, is currently refusing to sign a new contract having gone unused in the Premier League so far this term.
Here, Standard Sport assesses the young West Ham stars for whom there are high hopes.
Ollie Scarles
Defender, 17
Made headlines when making his first-team debut while still aged just 16 during last November’s Europa League meeting with FCSB and was rewarded with his first professional contract the following month.
Scarles has been a regular for an Under-21 side going well in the Premier League 2 this season and having developed as a versatile midfielder, there are increasing signs that his future may lie at left-back.
Emerson has been exceptional in that position for David Moyes’s first team this season, but Aaron Cresswell turns 34 next month and the fact that the club did not reinforce the position this summer will give Scarles hope of opportunity down the line.
Callum Marshall
Forward, 18
Left his native Northern Ireland to join West Ham last year and is another who played a key part in the Youth Cup triumph, scoring in the 5-1 final win over Arsenal.
Physically mature beyond his years, Marshall has made light work of U21 football this term - hammering 14 goals in just nine appearances so far.
Though he is yet to make a first-team debut at club level (he was on the bench for the Carabao Cup win at Lincoln in September), he is already a full international, handed his Northern Ireland bow back in June and included in this month’s squad for upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against Finland and Denmark.
George Earthy
Midfielder, 18
It says plenty about the regard in which he is held that he was handed a new three-year contract in September as West Ham look to avert the kind of scenario currently playing out with Mubama.
Earthy was raised a West Ham fan and was a season-ticket holder at Upton Park before the club left the old ground. The technically-gifted midfielder has been name-checked as a leading talent on more than one occasion by sporting director Mark Noble, who spends much of his time at Chadwell Heath.
Has four goals and two assists in 10 matches for the U21s so far this term, including strikes away to League One sides Bristol Rovers and Cheltenham Town in the EFL Cup.
