Ollie Scarles’ journey – culminating this season in a handful of Premier League starts and West Ham United’s Young Player of the Year award – has not been short of obstacles and roadworks.
The teenager made his official top-flight debut in December, but it might have come around a lot sooner if it were not for a fractured back which kept Ollie Scarles on the sidelines for five months at the beginning of 2024.
Furthermore, if you go back right to the start of his footballing story – the first chapter in a book with plenty of blank pages still to fill in – the 19-year-old was let go from Chelsea’s academy.
Then again, an early exit from the West London powerhouses did not do Declan Rice any harm. The former West Ham United captain was also released by Chelsea.
A decade or so later, as Scarles follows in Rice’s footsteps by winning the Young Hammer of the Year award at the end-of-season gongs, the England Under-20 international is reflecting on a career which, while still in its embryonic stage, has already hardened him up to the unforgiving world of top-level sport.
Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
West Ham United’s Ollie Scarles once trained with Arsenal and Chelsea
Speaking on the latest edition of the Ironcast podcast, alongside former West Ham striker Carlton Cole, Scarles recalls turning down a move to Arsenal’s academy before returning to the Hammers for a second spell in 2017.
“I was training with Chelsea, West Ham and Arsenal,” Scarles recalls. “And I chose Chelsea just because of the journey and the fact it was closer to home and so much easier journey-wise.
“I was there for two years and got released at the end of the Under-11 season. I had a six-week trial here, and I think I signed within two weeks. It’s been the best thing that’s ever happened to me, so I can’t complain.”
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It was Lopetegui who handed Scarles his Premier League bow. Graham Potter handed Scarles an established role in the West Ham first-team. But it was under David Moyes where the left-back featured for the very first time at senior level.
The Scot described Scarles as ‘exceptional’ after he more than held his own on a maiden first-team start against FCSB in the Europa Conference League in 2022. A tournament the Hammers would go on to win, of course.
“I knew two days before that I was potentially starting,” Scarles recalls. “We were doing patterns of play in training, and I was in the starting team, and I just couldn’t believe it. It was a mad feeling.
“I mean, 16 years old and you’re starting for the first team… I couldn’t believe it.
“I turned around to [former captain and now-sporting director] Mark Noble, and I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’. And he was like, ‘You’re starting, geez’. So yeah, that’s when I found out, and then I had to go home from my digs and get my passport and everything so I was ready to travel the next day.”
Scarles reflects on Youth Cup win two years after Arsenal hammering
Scarles was also part of Mark Robson’s 2023 FA Youth Cup winning team. West Ham battered Arsenal 5-1 in the final two years ago, with George Earthy, Gideon Kodua and Callum Marshall among those who have made the step up from academy football since then.
“The Under-18 season was a joke, and some of the players in that group were incredible. We had such a good team,” Scarles recalls.
“It never felt like we were going to lose a game. It was so good to be a part of because it was so positive, and every time we turned up for a game, we had the confidence that we were going to win because we knew we were that good.
“We knew when we went 1-0 down [against Arsenal in the FA Youth Cup final] that that was never the end. We always knew we were going to come back because we had that mindset. There was no chance we were going to lose that game.
“We had such a good relationship with the coaches, so everything just clicked. We had an unbelievable year. I’ve had loads of coaches that have been influential in my career, people like Kevin Keen in the U18s. I’ve had Coley (Carlton Cole), Robbo (Mark Robson), Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville, too.
“I could go on and name loads more, but there are so many who have had a big part to play in my career, so hopefully it’ll be a long and enjoyable one.”