West Ham U18s boss Kevin Keen is confident “the next Mark Noble or Declan Rice” will be on show tonight as his charges travel to Ipswich for the club’s first FA Youth Cup quarter-final in 18 years.
Noble was himself part of the last Hammers side to get this far in the competition and Keen’s boys are looking to go one better by reaching a first semi-final since 1999, when a team featuring the likes of Joe Cole and Michael Carrick went on to lift the cup.
The young Irons are enjoying a superb season, currently 15 points clear at the top of the Premier League U18 South division. Several of Keen’s side have been handed opportunities in David Moyes’s first-team already this term, with Ollie Scarles and Divin Mubama impressing in the Europa Conference League, while Kaelan Casey was an unused substitute in Sunday’s Premier League defeat at Tottenham.
“You’re always hopeful, especially at a club like West Ham, of doing well in competitions like this,” Keen said. “The last few years we haven’t hit those heights, so it’s been a challenge for us.
“We’ve got a couple of really good young players and fans might be seeing the next Declan Rice or Mark Noble, and will be able to say ‘five years ago I saw that kid play in the FA Youth Cup away at Ipswich Town’.
“As long as our players give it a real go, play with pride and play the West Ham way, we’ll be okay.”
