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West Ham United head coach Julen Lopetegui will be able to call upon three under-21 players after the international break ends.
And all three of them will be able to make an immediate impact for West Ham.
Julen Lopetegui has made a slow start to life at the London Stadium, although Saturday’s impressive 4-1 win over Ipswich Town changed the narrative somewhat.
Before the Ipswich game, there was actually talk of Lopetegui getting the sack if results didn’t improve quickly, but he apparently assured the board that he will turn things around.
The win over the Tractor boys was a good start, but now Lopetegui needs to oversee a sustained run of good form.
The problem for Lopetegui is that he faces a nightmarish run of fixtures after the international break.
So things are set to get ever harder for him and his players. If the Hammers embark on a run of defeats, the atmosphere in East London could turn toxic.
And in my opinion, there’s one guaranteed way for Lopetegui to get the West Ham fans onside…
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Mark Robson has been doing a fantastic job with the under-21s over the past year or so.
We have so many exceptionally talented young players amongst our ranks, but there are three who stand out above the rest in my opinion…
The 19-year-old is arguably the most highly-rated youngster at the club right now, and for very good reason.
He is the total package, and has absolutely everything needed to make it at the very highest level of the game.
The Hammers teenager has already played in central midfield for the youth team this season, as well as his normal left-back position, and even as a centre-forward!
The 18-year-old is very highly-rated indeed at the London Stadium, and Julen Lopetegui clearly thinks a lot of him, having included him in first-team training sessions on numerous occasions already.
During one of those training sessions, Scarles got the Hammers fans really excited when a video emerged of him matching Aaron Wan-Bissaka for pace.
He possesses exceptional technical ability, plenty of pace and after bulking up during the off-season, he now has the physical attributes needed to succeed in the Premier League.
Kaelan Casey
The 19-year-old is essentially the Hammers’ fourth-choice centre-back this season, so he’s probably the most likely to play for the senior team out of the entire under-21 squad.
Standing at 6ft 1in tall, Casey isn’t the tallest for a central defender, but he is still very strong in the air because of his impressive leap.
The teenager possesses exceptional positional sense for someone so young and he is very quick as well.
What separates Casey from everyone else in his age group is his coolness and composure when he has the football at his feet.
I think he’s ready to step into the side an make an immediate impact for us, if Lopetegui gives him the nod to do so.
The 18-year-old has the talent and drive needed to go on and become a star for the Hammers in the Premier League.
Orford has incredible technical ability, is cool calm and collected with the ball at his feet and has a wonderful array of passing in his locker.
He is extremely intelligent as well, and his positional sense for someone so young is already right up there where it needs to be.
The talented teenager came on leaps and bounds last season, and he has already trained with the first-team on multiple occasions.
Mark Noble absolutely raved about Orford recently, and the teenager has an extremely bright future ahead of him.
It was claimed that Noble and David Sullivan prioritised keeping Lewis Orford at West Ham in the summer, after he nearly left to join Aston Villa.
Thankfully, they managed to do just that, and I think he could make an instant impact for us when Premier League action resumes.
West Ham have so many super talented under-21 players, but the three mentioned above are on another level to the rest, and are ready to come into the side and make an immediate impact for Julen Lopetegui in my opinion.
Whether the Spaniard is brave enough to use any of them remains to be seen though.
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