Until Elliot Anderson changed hands this summer for a staggering £116 million, the most expensive British footballer in history was a man who rose through the ranks at West Ham United and now patrols the midfield at Arsenal; one Declan Rice.
A Premier League champion three years after his £105 million move across the capital, Declan Rice now sits proudly among the most successful players to emerge from the feted Hammers academy.
Rubbing shoulders with Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe.
If you asked anyone, neutrals and fanatics alike, to name the most prosperous academies in the English game, one imagines West Ham United would be one of the first to get a mention.
What do YOU think is causing so many academy exits at West Ham? 🤨
Fejokwu leaves for Club Brugge…
Yet, in more recent times, exciting young talents have been leaving East London in rather different circumstances.
West Ham United keep losing academy talents – Emmanuel Fejokwu the latest
Earlier this week, Emmanuel Fejokwu joined Club Brugge, bringing an end to what the England U16 international called ‘nine wonderful years’ at West Ham.
Fejokwu’s departure is the continuation of a wider trend. These days, it seems that the best up-and-coming claret and blue prospects feel their development is better served away from West Ham. Fejokwu’s camp certainly seemed to think so, anyway.
But what do those other departures tell us? Is Fejokwu destined to become another ‘cautionary tale’ in Belgium? Or can he buck the trend of players who slipped through West Ham fingers and disappeared into the ether.
Elisha Sowunmi – Tottenham Hotspur
It is probably a little harsh to put the 19-year-old winger on this list. Yet, Sowunmi went from being West Ham’s top scorer at Under-18 level in 2024/25 to warming the bench for Tottenham’s Under-21s at the end of 2025/26.
Sowunmi played only 104 of the final 720 minutes available to him in North London.
Emeka Adiele – FC Utrecht
To the disappointment of those who watched the rampaging left-back rack up an impressive number of goal contributions in the first half of last season, Emeka Adiele jumped at the chance to join Utrecht in the winter window.
Adiele had grown impatient in his pursuit of first-team minutes, and understandably felt they would be more readily available to him in the Eredivisie. In the end, he swapped one U21 side for another, though the speedy wideman will be targeting a senior breakthrough in the coming months.
Divin Mubama – Manchester City
If Mubama was unhappy with his minutes under David Moyes, why on earth did he think that a move to Manchester City would help him? In two years, he has played only twice for a City side boasting football’s most fearsome marksman – although Harry Kane may have something to say about that in Miami this weekend.
Prolific at youth level, Mubama endured a miserable end to that Stoke City stint. He netted five times in 20 starts and ended his Staffordshire loan spell well down the pecking order.
Divine Mukasa – Manchester City
Like Mubama, near-namesake Divine Mukasa left West Ham for Man City and then moved on loan to the Championship. The skilful attacking midfielder had his moments at relegated Leicester City, but standing out there was like a goalkeeper winning Man of the Match in a game his side has just lost 6-0.
Mukasa returns to Man City with his future uncertain.
Jamal Baptiste – Manchester City
At least Mubama and Mukasa made a first-team appearance in Sky Blue. The same cannot be said of Jamal Baptiste.
Carlton Cole likened Baptiste to Ferdinands Anton and Rio at one point. One suspects that Cole, West Ham’s Loans and Pathways Manager, did not envisage the now 22-year-old suffering relegation out of England’s third tier with Rotherham United later down the line.
Remarkably, Baptiste played more minutes as a teenager with West Ham than he has managed during two years at parent club Sheffield United.
Take a look at West Ham’s ins and outs this summer – What deal stands out most to you?
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Harrison Ashby – Newcastle United
When you look up the phrase ‘cautionary tale’, you will see a picture of the 23-year-old right-back alongside it.
Hatters boss Jack Wilshere summed it up nicely when Harrison Ashby joined Luton on loan from Newcastle this week; leaving the Hammers for St James Park in 2023 ‘probably hasn’t worked out’ as planned.
You can say that again.
West Ham fans had extremely high hopes for Ashby. Newcastle, in contrast, are probably just waiting for his contract to expire. Ashby’s most recent loan stint saw him start only two League One games for Bradford City.
Aji Alese – Sunderland
Alese felt that Sunderland was the ‘perfect place’ for him to hone his talents when completing a £500,000 switch to Wearside. In stark contrast to the others in this list, he was probably on the money.
Islington-born Alese was a regular in the Sunderland team. When fit, that is.
Fitness has been the main issue, in truth. Including a loan spell at Portsmouth last term, Alese has missed well over 100 games in his senior career. Sunderland have probably moved beyond him now; a League One club when he joined, a Europa League outfit these days.
But if Alese can put those injuries behind him, he should still be a very solid pick up for a Championship club looking for a powerful, ball-playing centre-back.
Emmanuel Longelo – Birmingham City
After making the ‘difficult choice’ to leave West Ham for the Midlands, Longelo predicted that his career would take off at St Andrews. Well, he was partly right. His career has taken off in recent times, but not in the blue of Birmingham.
Longelo moved north of the border and has been a revelation at Motherwell with ten goal contributions in 31 games. No player on this entire list has enjoyed a season as successful as Longelo’s at Fir Park.
Sonny Perkins – Leeds United
Back in 2022, after scoring three times in April alone, Sonny Perkins beat Cole Palmer, Alejandro Garnacho and a certain Crysencio Summerville to the Premier League 2 Player of the Month award.
Four years later, Perkins is in danger of becoming one of those strikers you see sometimes; a prolific goalscorer in academy football but someone never destined to make the step up to the men’s game.
Perkins made a controversial move to Leeds only a few months after snatching that award from under Palmer’s nose. Once it became clear that they didn’t trust him, he would spend the next four years ambling around the third tier.
A record of four goals in 49 League One games for Oxford, Leyton Orient and Wigan Athletic is just one more than he managed in a single month for West Ham’s reserves in April 2022.
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