Nils Koppen is the man Daniel Kretinsky chose to take charge of West Ham United’s recruitment, but buying and selling is not the limit of the Belgian’s responsibilities.
Two weeks ago, the Hammers officially confirmed the appointment of Koppen as their Director of Player Recruitment. The title may be a new one but, in truth, the former Rangers and PSV Eindhoven director is following in the footsteps of Kyle Macaulay and Tim Steidten.
Hopefully, with more success.
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Nils Koppen, meanwhile, arrived amid genuine uncertainty surrounding a host of key players at West Ham United. A situation which makes his stance regarding the club’s brightest young academy prospects appear very understandable.
Nils Koppen will not greenlight West Ham United academy exits at this stage
According to The Athletic, Koppen has told West Ham’s youngsters that no decision will be made on their futures – specifically, whether or not they will be loaned out – for the next fortnight.
In the meantime, Nuno Espirirto Santo is taking a closer look at Josh Ajala and co at Rush Green. Under-21 coach Mark Robson is predicting that numerous homegrown talents will step up in the Championship, too.
In addition to Ajala, Preston Fearon, Airidas Golambeckis, Ryan Battrum and Daniel Cummings may feature as West Ham face Southend United in their first official pre-season friendly on Saturday afternoon.
Koppen’s decision to delay any loan exits until the start of August, meanwhile, makes sense when you also consider that further first-team departures are on the cards.
Hammers may need to replace Crysencio Summerville and co
Crysencio Summerville will almost certainly leave, although Roma’s proposed £38 million offer falls short of his £50 million release clause.
There may still be offers for Taty Castellanos, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Alphonse Areola, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf too, even if bids have been in relatively short supply so far.
There are already some West Ham fans who feel Ajala could step into a Summerville-shaped void, in the manner Mohamadou Kante plans to do post-Mateus Fernandes. Finlay Herrick will fancy his chances of potentially succeeding Areola. And the versatile Ezra Mayers should secure plenty of game time as a left-sided centre-half or left-back.
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Koppen, it seems, is reluctant to make any firm decisions with West Ham’s kids until more clarity arises regarding the future of their first-teamers.
A good decision, when you consider that Nigel Reo-Coker, Steve Potts and Alvin Martin all benefitted from a West Ham relegation; stepping out the shadows of more experienced players and establishing themselves in the starting XI.
Considering that the current crop of West Ham youngsters are among the best in the country – National League Cup finalists last season and winners of the Premier League Cup at three different age groups – it makes sense to keep them at Rush Green during pre-season.
“I think right now the link between the Academy and the first-team is as strong as it’s ever been, which is really exciting,” the aforementioned Robson said a few days ago. “There are obviously a few [coaches] who have worked across the set-ups, and that bond is there.
“There are a lot of younger players training with the first team in pre-season now, and I’m really confident a number of them can play big roles in the Championship.”
Stand-out performances against Southend at Roots Hall won’t cement their place in Nuno’s plans. But it certainly won’t do their chances any harm.
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