When Graham Potter is pacing about in the away dugout at Goodison Park on Saturday, he will be taking charge of his tenth match as manager of West Ham, 65 days into the job.
Only six players have featured in all nine of his matches to date: five senior pros and one blossoming youngster. Tomas Soucek, Mohammed Kudus, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Max Kilman and Carlos Soler have been fielded by Potter in every game. So, too, has 19-year-old Ollie Scarles.
“I can’t really ask for much more,” Scarles beams, in an interview with Standard Sport.
“I can’t thank the manager enough for the trust he’s put in me. The fact I’m still getting trusted and still getting minutes reflects the way I’m playing. I think I’m doing well, getting involved in play. Defensively, my game has improved quite a bit. It’s about just trying to show what I can do.”
Scarles has been keeping a former European champion, Emerson, out of the team, and earning plaudits from those of a claret and blue persuasion and beyond for his well-balanced displays at left wing-back, particularly after the 1-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates.
The academy product was in West Ham’s youth system at the age of eight, briefly switching to Chelsea before returning to the Hammers’ so-called ‘Academy of Football’.
He made what then-manager David Moyes dubbed an “exceptional” debut at the age of 16 in a Europa Conference League match against Romania’s FCSB in November 2022 but had to wait until cameos off the bench in 1-1 draws with Bournemouth and Brighton this past December to finally take to the field with the seniors again and to appear for the first time in the Premier League.
“I did think I would get the opportunity [again],” he says of those intervening 25 months. “Football is a game of patience and a game of opinions. I was on the bench a fair few times.
The manager has come in and trusted youth players and just given us a chance — which is what we’ve all wanted for a while.
Ollie Scarles on Graham Potter
“I was unfortunate to be injured towards the end of last season. I made my Premier League debut under [Julen] Lopetegui and, since the new manager has come in, it’s been unbelievable.”
Scarles is part of a talented generation of West Ham academy players. While an Under-18 in 2022/23, he helped West Ham win the FA Youth Cup for the first time since Joe Cole and Michael Carrick led their generation of young Hammers to glory in that prestigious competition back in 1999.
Also in that class of 2023 were centre-back Kaelan Casey, the 20-year-old who has appeared on West Ham’s bench under Potter and made his debut under Lopetegui, and Lewis Orford, the 19-year-old central midfielder making a name for himself for the U21s and handed his Premier League debut by Potter.
Divin Mubama was part of that team, too — the striker sold to Manchester City for a £2million fee in August — as well as three players who staff at West Ham are delighted to see currently impressing out on loan: George Earthy (aged 20, at Bristol City), Callum Marshall (20, Huddersfield), and Freddie Potts (20, Portsmouth).
“We were such a good team,” Scarles reminisces, “and any of them could be getting this opportunity.
“He [Potter] has shown trust in all of us and given us minutes,” Scarles says of Orford and Casey.
“Obviously as they are my mates, I’d love to see [them play more]. It’s great for the academy. I want my mates to do well so I want them to get more minutes. But that’s down to them and the manager.
“He’s come in and trusted youth players and just given us a chance — which is what we’ve all wanted for a while. That in itself is a positive for us and the club. It’s just a massive thing.
Read more: Time for Potter to be bold with West Ham academy stars
“We’ve got the U18s in the final of the Premier League Cup [against Reading]. We’ve got the U21s doing well in their league. It speaks for itself, really. In cup competitions and in the league, we always do well in the youth teams. There’s great talent coming through, from what I can see and from what I think the staff can see. It’s looking promising.”
West Ham’s history is one of producing and promoting youngsters, from Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst to Trevor Brooking, Frank Lampard and, the most recent example, £105m export Declan Rice, now of Arsenal.
Scarles is the latest to be given a sustained chance. Having played as a central midfielder or a left-back as he moved up the age groups, the teenager now deems left wing-back, where Potter is using him, his favoured position.
“I think the five-back or three-back really suits me,” he says. “My defensive game has really come on recently. It’s one thing I felt I really needed to work on. In recent performances, I’ve shown that it’s come on quite a bit. Also, I really like to show that I can get forward and be creative.”
Aaron Cresswell, 35, and James Ward-Prowse, 30, earn rave reviews from Scarles for how their leadership has “100 per cent” helped calm him on the pitch.
“Cress and Prowsey are both brilliant at it. They talk you through games and have always got your back. It’s little things like different pointers and helping you with where to be in a positional sense. It’s always good to have players who have played numerous games in the Premier League guiding you and helping you. I’m just hoping to follow in their footsteps.”
And Scarles is thankful to Potter for being “always happy to have a proper conversation about your pathway — talk to you, pull you aside and give pointers, tips, on where you’ve done well and where maybe you’ve not. It makes you feel a proper part of the team.” Potter has engendered a “really good vibe around the training ground, where everyone is happy”.
Scarles, without skipping a beat, asserts: “I think I can become a very important player. I’d like to start most games for West Ham.
“I just want to follow players like Cresswell and Prowsey, playing that many games in the Premier League. That’s what every player wants, a career like that. You become an experienced player, and then you can pass on your knowledge to younger players coming through.”
To already be thinking about imparting his knowledge onto others, aged 19 and just 11 senior matches into his fledging career, speaks volumes. Scarles is not one for standing still.
