West Ham United boss David Moyes has fired a blunt warning to the club’s young players.
Moyes has long made it clear that he wants to build a new West Ham around young, talented players hungry to prove themselves at the top level.
The Scot was inspired by the Red Bull model during visits to Salzburg and Leipzig in between his stints as West Ham boss.
Busy season and Red Bull philosophy expected to open door to clubs young stars
With Europa League group stage football added to the mix for West Ham next season, games will come thick and fast.
With no signings made for the first team as yet, many people fans believe Moyes will lean heavily on the club’s rising academy stars.
But Moyes has made it very clear many of them have to do better than their showings in pre-season so far if they are to prove themselves worthy of a first team chance (whufc.com).
Moyes fires blunt warning to Hammers prospects
“First of all they want to (make sure) they’re good enough for West Ham,” an agitated Moyes told whufc.com when asked whether playing against a Football League side was good experience for the youngsters involved in the first team squad for pre-season games against Leyton Orient and Northampton this week.
“They have to show that they’re good enough to play against Orient. And some of them done ok, bits of it.
“Others will have to up their game if they want to get more involvement.”
West Ham have been busy recruiting to beef up their academy options this summer.
Business so far geared towards beefing up academy ranks
Striker Thierry Nevers has joined from Reading.
West Ham paid just over £1m to sign defensive midfielder Pierre Ekwah Elimby from Chelsea.
And winger Armstrong Okoflex has also joined after being released by Celtic.
It will be interesting to see if any of those players get a chance in the first team squad when the season gets underway from August 14th.
In other West Ham news, what David Moyes target did shows determination to seal move.
And a West Ham insider has warned fans about new links to Euro 2020 star.