It seems David Moyes isn’t just scouring the transfer market for players who can immediately improve the first-team, he’s also building for the future.
We’ve already seen the club confirm the arrivals of youth players Thierry Nevers and Pierre Ekwah Elimby from Reading and Chelsea respectively.
Both are expected to join up with the Development Squad this summer, in the hope they can do enough to impress Acadamey Manager Ricky Martin and, of course, David Moyes, in order to forge their way into first-team plans in the future.
And now it appears the club is close to bringing in a third highly-rated youth prospect, with All Nigerian Soccer claiming we’re on the verge of confirming the signing of Celtic’s Armstrong Okoflex.
It’s believed the 19-year-old has already signed a two-year contract at the club and now it’s just a matter of time before West Ham announce his arrival.
The Irish-Nigerian is a “hugely talented” winger who was also the subject of interest from both Crystal Palace and Newcastle United, both of which have seen attempts to sign the youngster thwarted in the past.
Okoflex came through Arsenal’s Academy before making the switch to the Scottish capital in 2018 but has reportedly opted to leave Scotland as he believes there isn’t a clear route into the first team for him to aim for.
Not a great deal is known about the winger outside of Celtic, to be honest, but it’s clear the club have seen something in him in order for them to offer him a route back to London.
Everyone knows our Academy’s reputation, it speaks for itself, so it’s no surprise the player has opted to join us over the likes of Newcastle and Palace.
With three exciting new youngsters joining the club this summer, surely it won’t be long before we see a few fresh faces starting to break into the first-team again, following in the footsteps of the likes of Declan Rice and Ben Johnson, who have both made a name for themselves in recent years.
