David Sullivan and Mark Noble prioritised keeping one player at West Ham in the summer

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West Ham United majority shareholder David Sullivan and Sporting Director Mark Noble prioritised something very important indeed in the summer.

We all know that David Sullivan backed West Ham head coach Julen Lopetegui to the hilt in the transfer market in the summer, whilst Mark Noble worked diligently behind the scenes to help all of the new arrivals settle in.

Lopetegui sat down for numerous meetings with David Sullivan and Tim Steidten during pre-season about the type of players he wanted at West Ham.

Meanwhile, Mark Noble continues to oversee the development and general wellbeing of West Ham’s under-18 and under-21 players.

We have a really professional team behind the scenes at the London Stadium now, with different people performing specialised roles.

Lopetegui and Steidten got most of the credit throughout the summer transfer window.

However, West Ham co-owner Sullivan and Noble deserve their flowers as well.

Why? Well, because they both ensured that we kept hold of one hugely talented young player in the summer.

David Sullivan and Mark Noble played key role in Lewis Orford staying

Lewis Orford was being heavily linked with an exit from West Ham in the summer, and was offered to Aston Villa as part of the proposed deal to bring Jhon Duran to the London Stadium.

Then just days later, Lewis Orford put pen to paper on a new five-year deal with West Ham.

Julen Lopetegui is clearly a big fan of the 18-year-old, but it was two separate people other than the West Ham boss who played a really key role in keeping the teenager at the club.

According to The Athletic, it was Mark Noble and David Sullivan who were pivotal in keeping Orford at the London Stadium.

In fact, they prioritised keeping the talented teen at the club:

“In June, West Ham rejected Villa’s offer for the highly rated 18-year-old. West Ham’s £32million offer for Duran included Orford but was rejected. Thereafter, Mark Noble, the sporting director, and David Sullivan, the majority shareholder, prioritised Orford’s long-term future. Noble spoke to Orford in the United States, with the midfielder having joined the first team on their pre-season tour. Those talks have succeeded.”

Good old Nobes. The Sporting Director will be vitally important to our hopes of keeping the talented youngsters we have at the club over the next few years.

It was also nice to hear that David Sullivan prioritised keeping Orford in East London.

Lewis Orford a special talent

Orford possesses the talent needed to go on and become a star for the Hammers in the Premier League.

The teenager 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.

He came on leaps and bounds last season, and he has already trained with the first-team on multiple occasions.

However, breaking into the Hammers’ midfield this season will be almost an impossible task, especially after Carlos Soler joined us on deadline day.

Lewis Orford will have to really shine for the under-21s, and then perhaps a loan move away from West Ham next season would be good for his development.

The 18-year-old just needs to bide his time and be patient. Noble, Lopetegui and Sullivan are all clearly big admirers of him.

I’m not sure I’ve ever been more convinced that a youth team player will make it for West Ham than I am with Orford.