The emergence of eenager Jeremy Ngakia has been one positive from a rather negative season for West Ham United.
The right-back has been thrown into the first-team by manager David Moyes but he has handled the pressure and responsibility superbly.
Ngakia has featured four times for the Hammers, twice against league-leaders Liverpool, and even veteran full-back Pablo Zabaleta has been very impressed with what he’s seen so far.
Ngakia has also impressed a big portion of the fan base and there seems to be a lot of excitement about his future, but how exactly could his Hammers career turn out?
We’ve taken a deeper look at some of the possibilities.
1) Stay with West Ham for his entire career – retire as a club legend
We’re guessing nearly every West Ham fan would want this!
Ngakia is still 19 so there’s plenty of time to go and if his contract situation isn’t sorted quickly then he could be gone before we even know it.
However, we feel he deserves a long-term deal and if he retains his passion and desire, we feel he will keep the right-back spot for the foreseeable future.
Hopefully, he can become the latest West Ham homegrown talent to go make himself into a club legend.
2) Perform well for West Ham before being sold for a huge fee
Ngakia’s displays may well have caught the eye of many clubs and if he keeps playing to a high level, some clubs may be tempted to make a big-money offer.
His meteoric rise is pretty similar to Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s, whose consistently good displays saw him earn a move from Crystal Palace to Manchester United.
3) Become a rotational player and eventually leave in search of more playing time
This would be a shame.
After such a promising start to his career at the club, this could be the worst outcome for the Hammers.
He’s proven that he deserves to play every game and that’s what the club should give him. If they don’t, don’t be surprised to see him leave in search of more minutes.
