Ezra Mayers explains his ‘next target’ as West Ham kid shows an attitude Nuno will love

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The emergence of Freddie Potts as one of the first names on Nuno Espirito Santo’s West Ham United team sheet should act as an inspiration to the rest of the young up-and-comers at Rush Green, from Ezra Mayers and beyond.

Freddie Potts was surprisingly left out of the starting XI as Nuno shuffled his pack away to Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday.

After five successive top-flight starts, the 22-year-old academy graduate was given a rest as West Ham United look ahead to a gruelling run of seven games between now and January 10th. A three-game week allowed Nuno to take a closer look, meanwhile, at some of the most exciting prospects amongst this next generation of young Hammers.

Mohamadou Kante is a ‘modern Premier League midfielder’ in the making, and he made his senior bow in the 1-1 draw at Manchester United. Three days later on the South Coast, teenage centre-back Ezra Mayers stepped off the bench for the first time.

And, speaking to the club’s official website, it is clear that a Premier League bow at the age of 18 only scratches the surface of Mayers’ ambitions.

Ezra Mayers reveals West Ham United ambitions after his Premier League debut

Mayers had been part of Nuno’s squad for the fixtures against Newcastle, Bournemouth and Manchester United. This, though, was the first time he entered the pitch.

Wearing number 63, the teenager replaced El Hadji Malick Diouf for the final ten minutes or so at The Amex. This means he had a front row seat as Brighton’s Georginio Rutter left Nuno incensed with a contentious stoppage-time equaliser.

“I’m very happy that Gaffer trusted me in that situation,” Mayers said. “We needed to see the game out, so to come on for Malick meant the world to me.

“[My family] didn’t make it today, but I checked the family group chat for the game after and the videos and celebrations. I couldn’t have done it without them. I’m very grateful.

“Ever since I was a little kid, this has been my dream, to finally come on and make my debut today. I’ve been on the bench recently quite a lot, but today, I don’t know why, but I thought this would be the day that I would come on.”

Mayers still has a lot to learn and a lot to prove if he is to emulate Potts by becoming a regular on the team sheet. He is determined to ensure that a cameo at Brighton is not his only first-team involvement in a claret and blue shirt, though.

“I mean, once you’ve made that debut, you want to go again,” adds the youngster, who will celebrate his 19th birthday next month. “You want to get back on the pitch. I think that’s definitely the next target that I’ll be working towards.”

Mayers reunited with Gerard Prenderville and Mark Robson

Nuno promoted Mark Robson, Gerard Prenderville, Billy Lepine and Steve Potts [dad of Freddie] to his first-team coaching staff a few weeks ago. All four know Mayers very well, having made the step up from academy football.

“I know the coaches very well, which is quite unusual for someone who steps into a first team environment,” Mayers adds. “I’ve known Gerard for six years maybe and then spent the last two seasons working with Mark and Steve and Gerard as well.

“So, I understand them well, they understand me well and it’s been good that we can both go on this journey.”

Academy Manager Kenny Brown believes Ezra Mayers has ‘really kicked on’ over the last couple of seasons at youth level. Alongside Kante, Finlay Herrick and Airidas Golambeckis, West Ham’s Under-21 captain, Mayers is a regular in Nuno’s first-team training roster these days.

“Four players of our academy are working every day with us; Finlay, Airidas, Ezra, and Mo,” Nuno said in November. “This is the best space that all academy players have, to play alongside and to train alongside professional and talented players.

“You don’t have to tell [them] anything. “You just say, ‘look at him [our senior players]. Try to reproduce what you see in him’.

“‘Airidas, look at our centre-halves’ experience. And midfielders, look at [our] midfielders. This is how I look at the academy.

“Can we bring players and develop them? Maybe it’s not for now, but maybe in one year’s time we are talking about having more numbers of academy players in our squad. We have talent there. We just need to give them time and space to grow.”