Time for Potter to be bolder with Hammers youth stars

Boss has golden opportunity to blood club's top academy talent

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Unfurled across that long strip of astroturf between the pitch and the dugout at the London Stadium, just as it was at Upton Park, is a touchline mat which proudly reads: “The Academy of Football. Founded in 1895.”

That self-anointed nickname for West Ham's youth system reflects the club's history of producing and trusting young players, from Bobby Moore through the Frank Lampards (Sr and Jr) and, more latterly, Declan Rice. It is a tradition that, in his first two months at the helm, Graham Potter has already leaned into.

Potter has named centre-back Kaelan Casey, 20, on the bench for five of his nine games; handed midfielder Lewis Orford, 19, his Premier League debut and a subsequent cameo at Stamford Bridge; and played left wing-back Ollie Scarles, 19, in every match. Scarles is ahead of Casey and Orford in the pecking order right now.