West Ham United have a venerable record of producing prodigious talent from their youth system, with some exciting future stars coming through the ranks at the London Stadium currently.
The most-significant recent arrival from the under-23 side to the first team has been Declan Rice, who is now arguably the club’s most-important player after a stellar 2019-20.
However, West Ham are seemingly set to suffer a big blow as the Daily Mail have stated rising starlet Benicio Baker-Boaitey is set to turn his back on the Irons and join Porto this week.
The exhilarating young winger has previously excited Hammers fans when clips of his skill and ability have popped up online – and as such losing him for the miserly 190,000 being reported is hard to take.
West Ham boss David Moyes appears to have seen the light in recent times over the importance of homegrown players, with the likes of Ben Johnson getting a chance in the first team and the club signing Jarrod Bowen from Hull.
Hopefully Grady Diangana gets a good chance to play for the Irons this coming season and other young starlets are added to the first-team fold.
However, losing Baker-Boaitey is a tough lesson to take for West Ham, who will hope to tie down other future stars to professional deals and ward off potential suitors.