As the West Ham United first-team made their return to Rush Green for pre-season training, many fans would have been scouring the footage looking for a few hints at what to expect over the summer.
A couple of new faces, perhaps, promoted from the Under-21s to the senior roster. A few new shirt numbers, maybe, hinting at a bigger role for West Ham United’s rising stars.
Now, as footage provided on Tuesday afternoon by the club’s official YouTube channel shows, Ollie Scarles is still wearing 57, Kaelan Casey still has 42, and Lewis Orford is once again donning 62 on his training top.
Yet, the fact that Scarles, Casey and Orford were there in the first place, in the gym alongside Jarrod Bowen, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Tomas Soucek, is proof enough that the academy trio are expected to begin 2025/26 as first-team players.
There was, though, one shirt number change for eagle-eyed supporters to make note of. Maxwel Cornet, back from a loan spell at Genoa, will go into the new season with a different number on his back.
Maxwel Cornet reacts during Everton FC v West Ham United - Premier League
Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images
Maxwel Cornet gets a new shirt number at West Ham United
When Cornet joined from Burnley in a £17 million deal during the summer of 2022, he was given the number 14 shirt. He traded that in for 17 when Tim Steidten lured Mohammed Kudus to the London Stadium a year later.
Now, the Ghana international is still a West Ham player despite ongoing discussions with Tottenham Hotspur. Kudus returned to training himself this week.
Cornet’s old number 17 shirt, meanwhile, is now the property of Luis Guilherme.
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The forgotten man of East London could be spotted in the 22 shirt behind the scenes on Tuesday, though, making it three different shirt numbers in four different seasons wearing that claret and blue kit.
Cornet is also the first West Ham player to don that 22 since Said Benrahma left for Lyon.
Cornet could still leave as West Ham reveal Kaelan Casey and Lewis Orford plans
Now, this feels very much like a short-term sort of arrangement. West Ham would still like to move Maxwel Cornet on before the window closes.
Do not be surprised, then, if there is another player with 22 on his back come September 1st.
A new signing, maybe. Or perhaps Scarles, Casey or Orford could inherit it, as a reflection of their new-found first-team status.
Scarles is West Ham’s reigning Young Player of the Year. Under-21 boss Mark Robson, meanwhile, confirmed over the weekend that Casey and Orford regularly train under Graham Potter these days too.
The commanding central defender and the influential midfielder both making the step up from the reserves, and hoping to follow in 19-year-old Scarles’ footsteps.
“Ultimately, our goal is always to help players make that step into the first team,” says Robson, who guided West Ham to a fourth-place finish in the Premier League 2 table.
“We saw Ollie do that last season, and Lewis and Kaelan were also involved with the senior group. If some of this new group and those already here can follow that path, that’s what we’re working towards.
“I’m really looking forward to working with the group. It’s fantastic to watch these young players develop, not just in terms of football, but as people too.”
According to reports, Maxwel Cornet may need to take a pay cut if he is to re-join Genoa in the coming weeks. The Serie A outfit will hold talks with West Ham soon, having banked £11 million via the sale of Albert Gudmundsson to Fiorentina.