As he follows in the footsteps of Declan Rice, Ben Johnson, Reece Oxford, and West Ham United’s own U18 assistant coach Zavon Hines, only time will tell which direction Ollie Scarles’ career goes from here.
Scarles scooped the Young Player of the Year gong at West Ham United’s end of season awards on Monday.
The standout candidate during a year in which most of The Hammers’ 2023 FA Youth Cup winners continued their progress out on loan – see George Earthy, Callum Marshall and Gideon Kodua – the 19-year-old left-back ended the campaign with 14 Premier League appearances despite only making his first-team debut in December.
But, as the trajectories of Scarles’ award-winning predecessors show, the journey from youth-team football to the unforgiving world of the men’s game is one fraught with obstacles and potential pitfalls.
What happened to West Ham United’s previous Young Player of the Year winners?
George Earthy – 2024
Maybe the jewel in West Ham’s current youth team crown, George Earthy will get his chance under Graham Potter in pre-season after an excellent year in the Championship.
A silky, tidy attacking midfielder, Earthy was named Bristol City’s Young Player of the Year as The Robins reached the play-offs.
Divin Mubama – 2023
A prolific goalscorer at youth level, Divin Mubama made the contentious switch to Manchester City in the summer of 2024 after fresh terms could not be thrashed out.
The England U20 ace plundered 16 goals in 15 appearances in sky blue, though speculation suggests that Man City still have no plans to promote Mubama to Pep Guardiola’s star-studded roster anytime soon.
Ben Johnson – 2021, 2022
Another who, like Mubama, departed West Ham when his contract ran out.
The versatile Ben Johnson never really nailed down a consistent place in The Hammers’ XI under David Moyes, leaving to join Ipswich Town in pursuit of more consistent minutes.
Ironically, Johnson would end up accumulating only 14 starts as Ipswich suffered an immediate return to the Championship.
Declan Rice – 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
The man who needs no introduction, and probably West Ham’s most successful academy graduate since Michael Carrick and Joe Cole won the FA Youth Cup in 1999.
The former captain remains the most expensive English footballer in history, two years after joining Arsenal for a staggering £105 million. Rice’s glorious free-kick brace against Real Madrid felt like a real coming of age moment on the Champions League stage though – funnily enough, quite literally – he is yet to add to the Conference League title he won with The Hammers in 2023.
Reece Oxford – 2016
Former West Ham boss Slaven Bilic admitted there was little to separate Reece Oxford and Declan Rice when both players were rising through the ranks at the London Stadium. Their careers have gone in very different directions since then, it’s fair to say.
Oxford was once labelled the ‘new Rio Ferdinand’ but, at the age of 26, he may now struggle to even emulate the success of the Man United legend’s younger brother Anton.
Oxford joined Augsburg after underwhelming loan spells with Reading and Borussia Monchengladbach. His most recent Bundesliga appearance came back in November 2022 due to long-standing injuries which have placed his career on an indefinite pause.
Reece Burke – 2015
Towering centre-back Reece Burke has experienced the vertigo-inducing heights and the crushing lows of senior football in the space of only a few years. He was part of the Luton Town side sensationally promoted to the Premier League but, only 24 months later, suffered the ignominy of successive relegations as The Hatters dropped like a stone from the top-flight to the third tier.
Sam Howes – 2014
A goalkeeping prodigy at youth level, Howes was part of the England side who secured the Under-17 European Championship title eleven years ago. While former teammates Dominic Solanke and Lewis Cook have gone on to become Premier League stalwarts, however, Howes has bounced around non-league, most recently spotted on loan at Maidenhead Town.
But provided parent club Leyton Orient renew his contract, and beat Charlton Athletic in this weekend’s play-off final, Howes might just find himself playing Championship football in 2025/26.
George Moncur – 2013
Now 31, experienced midfielder George Moncur has put together a respectable CV albeit comfortably below Premier League level.
A Football League veteran, he turned out for Colchester, Peterborough, Barnsley, Hull City, Luton and Leyton Orient but now faces a spell in the seventh tier after Ebbsfleet were relegated from the National League.
Dan Potts – 2012
Another now in his early-30s, Potts found himself reunited with Moncur at Colchester and Luton. The son of former West Ham captain Steve Potts helped The Hatters reach the promised land against all expectations in 2023.
Two years later, Potts is now a free agent after being released by Charlton Athletic in January.
Freddie Sears – 2011
Seventeen years after Freddie Sears marked his West Ham debut in the most perfect of circumstances – the jubilant teenager exploded onto the first-team stage with a winner against Blackburn Rovers – he is still going strong at the age of 35.
Best remembered for long spells at Ipswich and Colchester and a veteran of nearly 450 EFL appearances, Sears scored 21 goals this season for Kent-based Chatham Town in the Isthmian Premier League.
