West Ham United still have four Premier League fixtures sitting between now and New Years’ Day, as Nuno Espirito Santo looks to end 2025 far more positively than it began in the dying embers of the Julen Lopetegui era.
The first-team squad will be hard pushed ending the calendar year in a more emphatic fashion than Luke Smith’s Under-18s, though.
West Ham United’s free-scoring kids thrashed West Bromwich Albion 5-1 away from home at the less-than snappily-named Fitlife Foods Performance Centre this Saturday.
If 2026 is the year when George Earthy, Mohamadou Kante, Callum Marshall and co look to cement their place in the first-team set-up, then it could also prove to be a highly-important juncture in the career of young Andre Dike.
England youth star Dike earned a Goal of the Month nomination thanks to his curling strike against Crystal Palace in November. Now, on his first and only league appearance of December, the left-footed right-winger added another pair of goals to his ever-growing tally.
Andre Dike is finishing chances like West Ham United captain Jarrod Bowen
There are shades of Jarrod Bowen in Andre Dike. That Crystal Palace stunner was not the first time he had cut in from the right-hand side before leaving the opposition goalkeeper grasping at thin air.
His party piece was in evidence again as West Ham raced into a 4-0 lead after 36 minutes in Walsall. After Majid Balogun and a Joel Kerr double put the visitors in full control, Little Heath’s answer to Arjen Robben again used his lethal left boot to great effect after darting infield from the flank.
Dike completed the rout just past the hour, following some fine work from Lewis Beckford.
Under-18 coach Luke Smith delighted by West Brom battering
This means that, in league and cup action this season, Dike has scored eight goals in 12 matches for the Under-18s.
“We started well and came out with real intent and energy,” said a delighted Luke Smith, speaking to the club’s official website. “We scored a couple of early goals through well-taken finishes, and that was a theme throughout the first half.
“In the second half, we felt we could have scored a couple more, and were disappointed to concede. But overall, the group is pleased with the performance.”
“We were aggressive without the ball and exciting on the break, showing quality and good timing in our fast attacks,” added Smith, who saw his side overtake the Baggies into eighth place in the table while also giving their goal difference a colossal boost.
“We broke with speed and made good decisions around the goal, around who was in the best position, and we scored some good team goals.
“The reflection of the first half of the season would be the progress that the group has shown from the beginning until this point.
“We have been typically quite young throughout the first half of the season, and the progress, the maturity that we see growing in the group each week is a positive for us going into the second half of the season.”
England Under-17 star is forcing his way into Greg Lincoln’s Under-21 plans
Remarkably, Smith’s side scored 18 goals in their final four league matches of 2026. Isaac Thomas netted four against Ipswich Town in an 8-2 obliteration a few weeks back. Dike hit another brace in that crushing victory as well.
No wonder Kenny Brown, the club’s Academy Manager, said that Dike has made great progress regarding his ‘end product’.
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With such a prolific track record at Under-18 level, it is no surprise that the twinkle-toed teenager has been tipped to step up to another rung on the youth-team ladder. Dike made his Under-21 debut against Brighton in September, and featured off the bench during the 4-0 International Cup defeat by Athletic Bilbao a few days ago.
“It was good to get Andre Dike on the pitch, someone who’s been a high performer in our U18s, and expose him to the next level,” explained Greg Lincoln, who is working as West Ham’s interim Under-21 coach after Mark Robson joined Nuno Espirito Santo’s senior staff.
“There were some other players this evening who maybe haven’t played too many minutes. They got the opportunity to test and challenge themselves. I’m sure they will have learnt a lot from it.”
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