Three years ago, former West Ham United starlet Sonny Perkins snatched an award from under the noses of future Premier League stars Liam Delap, Alejandro Garnacho and Cole Palmer.
The Premier League 2 Player of the Month award was Perkins’ prize after he scored three times for the Hammers’ Under-21 side in April 2022.
Among the other names pipped to the punch, alongside Palmer, Garnacho and Delap, were Monaco sensation Mika Biereth and West Ham United’s own £30 million man Crysencio Summerville.
Now, success at youth-team level is never a surefire guarantee of a glorious career in senior football.
While Perkins has dropped down to the third-tier with Leyton Orient after a disappointing spell at Leeds, Biereth finished last season with 27 goals for Sturm Graz and Monaco, Garnacho was a regular fixture in Manchester United’s XI, and Delap joins Cole Palmer at Stamford Bridge on the back of a fine breakout campaign with Ipswich Town.
So only time will tell whether Norwegian prospect Oliver Johansen Braude blossoms into one of the finest footballers in his position, a la Palmer, or whether his career will instead contain Perkins-esque peaks and troughs.
Oliver Braude during AZ Alkmaar v SC Heerenveen – Eredivisie Europe Play-Offs
Photo by Ed van de Pol/BSR Agency/Getty Images
West Ham United eye Heerenveen right-back Oliver Braude
Give Me Sport claim that Braude is viewed as an affordable transfer option not only by West Ham but also Everton, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Fulham.
And while Perkins beat Garnacho and co to the Premier League Player of the Month award during his promising early days in claret and blue, Heerenveen’s rampaging right-back would join the Manchester United winger on the Golden Boy Index back in 2024.
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Braude would fall well short in the eventual Golden Boot rankings of course – Barcelona magician Lamine Yamal claimed the award ahead of Joao Neves, Pau Cubarsi, Savinho and the aforementioned Garnacho – but that he was mentioned in the same breath as football’s finest young talents was a source of considerable pride.
“I think it’s incredibly cool to be on that list,” Braude beamed, in conversation with TV2.
Now 21 years of age, and another rising star in a potential ‘Golden Generation’ of Norwegian football, the next step in Braude’s journey is likely to see him make a move away from the relatively small Friesland pond.
“It was a surreal feeling. Suddenly my face was on the screens!” Heerenveen’s 2024 Player of the Year laughs, recalling the moment when he realised he would be taking home the gong. “It was incredibly fun. I didn’t even feel like a candidate!”
Former Barcelona and Liverpool trialist idolises Trent Alexander-Arnold
Interest in Braude is nothing new.
As TV2 explain, he was offered trials with Ajax, Liverpool and even Barcelona as a teenager. Had things worked out differently, Braude might be charging down the right-hand side in La Masia these days.
Instead, he opted to join Valerenga in his native Norway before moving on to the Netherlands. And since making his senior debut in 2023, Braude has accumulated over 60 Eredivisie appearances.
Give Me Sport explain that, despite concerns over his 5ft 9in frame, Braude’s ‘ability and durability’ has caught the eye. Particularly of a Fulham outfit expected to lose Kenny Tete to Everton.
Braude finished top of the Heerenveen charts in 2024/25 for progressive carries, tackles, blocks and ‘goal-creating actions’. He is, clearly, a full-back capable of both generating goalscoring opportunities at one end while stopping them at the other.
West Ham are looking for a right-back themselves after deciding that Vladimir Coufal would be released alongside Aaron Cresswell and Lukasz Fabianski. The long-serving Coufal bid an emotional farewell after Graham Potter informed him that his contract would not be renewed.
He will be missed.
Braude appears to share the ‘warrior’ spirit that made Coufal such a hit at the London Stadium, though. He idolises Trent Alexander-Arnold but, as demonstrated via his defensive statistics, also appreciates the importance of aggression.
“Of course it’s nice that people notice your development,” Braude told reporters in response to those West Ham links. “That’s a big compliment and it makes me feel good.
“I focus on the field, everything that happens outside of it is for my agent. And it’s not like he calls me every day to talk about other clubs, mind you. Certainly not.
“We’ll see.”