West Ham pride themselves on being the Academy of Football, and our local Hammers fans here in the Transfer Tavern make sure everyone knows about it.

In fairness, the club have produced some top players in recent years.

The likes of Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole amongst others have all come through the youth system at the club and gone on to have great careers but, with that in mind, the West Ham fans want to see the next batch of players do the same.

They don't want the club to rest on their laurels but to actually produce more quality footballers and even keep hold of some.

Imagine if they'd held on to that four for starters!

Our landlord reckons, then, that the pressure on their young players to succeed is greater than at most clubs and thinks these THREE players are up against it to show they can compete...

Jaanai Gordon

Gordon saw the Hammers youngsters sign Toni Martinez up front from Valencia and he looks already set to be a top player.

It does however mean that Gordon is seeing his playing time up front limited some what and he'll have to ensure is he gets on top of things and, indeed, the pecking order if he still has plans on making the first team West Ham squad.

Moses Makasi

At the age of 21 Makasi needs to start making big strides to get himself into the senior squad.

Being a holding midfield player suggests that he knows his best position when many would just say they like to play in the number 10 role, and maybe now he knows that he can improve and get into the senior team.

Time will ultimately tell with this one though.

Djair Parfitt-Williams

Parfitt-Williams is a versatile attacking player.

He can play as the main striker or as a number 10 whilst he's also decent on the wing too but these positions are where West Ham are strongest arguably.

He'd have to force Dimitri Payet, Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini out of the side more than likely and that suggests he'll obviously have to step things up.