Callum Marshall and George Earthy have both enjoyed impressive starts to their latest loan spells away from West Ham United, the former scoring on his VFL Bochum debut and the latter providing an FA Cup assist on his return to Ashton Gate.
For Greg Lincoln, the coach overseeing the development of the next generation of West Ham United starlets, the manner in which both Callum Marshall and George Earthy embraced Under-21 life to earn themselves another opportunity at senior level makes the duo a real inspiration at Chadwell Heath.
West Ham missed Marshall and Earthy as they exited the EFL Trophy at the last-16 stage to Wimbledon.
But that is par for the course in the youth game. Lincoln knows that the better his players do, the less likely he is to hold onto them for a sustained period.
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Yet, if the Hammers’ 5-0 thrashing of London neighbours Chelsea on Monday is anything to go by, there is no shortage of talent left over.
Lewis Orford opened the scoring with a stunning free-kick. Preston Fearon would hit a brace and, on the day that Fabrizio Romano reported on Josh Ajala’s potential exit, he also found the net twice.
West Ham United U21 boss Greg Lincoln lauds Callum Marshall and George Earthy
Speaking to the official West Ham website at full-time – his team are now eighth in a 29-club strong Premier League 2 table – Lincoln highlighted Marshall and Earthy as prime examples for Fearon, Ajala, Mohamadou Kante and co to follow.
“We’ve spoken a lot this season about bridging that gap into senior football,” says Lincoln, who previously worked at Arsenal and for the England Under-16s. “George Earthy and Callum Marshall are two great examples of that. They’ve played for us in the competitions against senior teams.
“They’ve both gone out on loan now. I saw it took Callum eight minutes to score on his debut, and George is obviously doing well at Bristol City. I thought what you saw tonight was players showing that they’re probably ready for that next step now.
“That’s about opportunity and experience.”
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Marshall made an ‘exceptional’ first impression in Germany with Bochum. The Northern Ireland international snaffled a late equaliser in a 3-3 draw with Darmstadt on his first 2.Bundesliga appearance on Saturday.
Bristol City coach Gerhard Struber has been full of praise for Earthy, meanwhile. The Robins’ 2024/25 Young Player of the Year hoping to pick up where he left off during an initial loan spell in Bristol.
“We’ve had a fantastic week,” adds Lincoln, who welcomed a familiar face to West Ham a few days ago. “Marcus Browne, a former Academy graduate who scored for Wimbledon against us last week, came in on Sunday and spoke to the players about his experiences of making that step from academy football into senior football.
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“And I think you can see from the performance tonight that those messages, and the messages we’re consistently giving the players, are really starting to resonate.
“Ultimately, it’s about showing it on the pitch, and I think we did that tonight. The players gave a really good account of themselves, and I think some of them are more than ready now to make that transition into senior football and be playing for points regularly.”
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