West Ham United have had some huge names come by means of the academy, however not fairly end up as they have been projected to. The likes of Reece Oxford, Grady Diangana, and Conor Coventry are simply among the names that stands proud lately. After all, one participant did shine by means of in these instances although, and that’s Declan Rice.
Rice moved to Arsenal for a payment of round £105m, making him the membership’s file sale, after making 245 appearances for the Hammers, scoring 15 targets, offering 13 assists and even being named membership captain in 2022.
However there was one other prime academy prospect, who wasn’t deemed adequate, who has now moved to Manchester Metropolis.
West Ham’s former rising star
Divin Mubama got here by means of the West Ham academy, in the identical age group as George Earthy, a highly-rated expertise who continues to be on the membership. The 19-year-old striker made 57 appearances for the U18 aspect, scoring 40 targets and offering 5 assists, earlier than making 34 appearances for the U21 aspect, scoring 18 targets and offering two assists.
Mubama was then handed his senior debut in opposition to Romanian membership, FCSB. He went on to make 18 appearances for the senior staff, scoring one purpose, offering one help, and totalling 431 minutes performed.
David Moyes even labelled Mubama “totally different from the remaining” when talking about him, lauding his mentality and perspective “pretty much as good as any prime participant”.
However that wasn’t sufficient, as West Ham didn’t give him a brand new deal on the membership, which ended up permitting Manchester Metropolis to choose him up for a compensation package deal of round £1.2m.
The striker has but to play any video games for Metropolis, however the query stays, would Mubama not have been choice for the Hammers to name upon, particularly with the type of Michail Antonio as of late.
How Mubama compares to Antonio
The 34-year-old striker has been at West Ham since 2015, making 316 appearances for the membership, scoring 83 targets, offering 41 assists, and totalling 22,522 minutes performed. Antonio is the Hammers’ all-time prime scorer within the Premier League, having netted 68 instances within the competitors to this point.
However the Jamaican is slowing down, particularly along with his output, as he has solely managed one purpose and one help within the opening seven Premier League video games this season, after solely managing seven targets and two assists in 32 appearances final time period.
|
Antonio (23/24) vs Antonio (24/25 thus far) comparability |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Stats (per 90 minutes) |
23/24 |
24/25 |
|
Targets |
0.31 |
0.20 |
|
Assists |
0.09 |
0.20 |
|
xG |
0.29 |
0.38 |
|
Progressive Carries |
2.37 |
2.29 |
|
Progressive Passes |
1.29 |
2.08 |
|
Shot Complete |
1.56 |
2.94 |
|
Targets/Shot |
0.20 |
0.07 |
|
Shot-Creating Actions |
1.83 |
2.50 |
|
Aerials Received |
1.88 |
1.46 |
When analysing his metrics from this season, in comparison with final season, it’s kind of of a blended bag, with some metrics being higher, and a few being worse. Notably, his conversion fee, scoring 0.20 targets/shot final season per 90, in comparison with 0.07 per 90 this season is drastically down, nonetheless, his help numbers and creation numbers are literally up.
Antonio continues to be proving to be a helpful squad addition, particularly within the absence of their new striker signing, Niclas Füllkrug, however might Mubama have been a brighter choice for the longer term, to develop alongside somebody like Fullkrug, with the potential to be their Antonio improve. That is the query many West Ham followers shall be asking.
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