While the results and honours haven't always followed, West Ham United have always been a team that can boast a genuine superstar or two in their side.
A few years ago, it was Declan Rice who was grabbing the headlines for the Hammers and representing them in a Euros final for England.
Nowadays, it's Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta who are the standouts in the team, with the latter making it very clear he wants to remain in East London with his celebration against Nottingham Forest.
Lucas-Paqueta
However, before either he or Rice had made their names in Claret and Blue, there was an exciting prospect who looked like an even bigger talent than both.
Rice & Paqueta's West Ham careers
Now, there may still be some ill feelings about where Rice moved on to a couple of years ago, but it would be impossible to deny that he gave an awful lot to West Ham over his time with the club.
Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen for West Ham
Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen for West Ham
He made his senior debut for the club against Burnley in 2017 and went on to make 245 appearances for the club, totalling an astonishing 20,580 minutes.
Despite playing in defensive midfield and even at the back at times, the Englishman managed to score 15 goals and provide 13 assists for the Hammers during his time in East London.
Moreover, he captained the club to Conference League glory in his final game - an achievement that has enshrined him in the club's history books forever.
Paqueta, on the other hand, only joined the Irons from Lyon in the summer of 2022, but has still played a massive role at the club.
lucas-paqueta-west-ham-premier-league
He was also part of the team that secured the Hammers' European glory, and has amassed an impressive tally of 21 goals and 14 assists in 124 games.
However, for as brilliant as Rice and Paqueta are, there was an academy gem who, a decade ago, was being looked at as an even bigger talent, but is not without a club.
The West Ham gem without a club
Cast your minds back to the distant year of 2015 and West Ham's Premier League opener away to Arsenal.
It was a game to forget for the hosts, but a memorable win for the travelling Irons, and one youngster in particular: Reece Oxford.
It was the then 16-year-old's competitive debut, and instead of making a fool of himself against a pretty stacked Gunners side, he looked incredible and practically pocketed a prime Mesut Ă–zil.
Reece-Oxford-and-Slaven-Bilic
Reece-Oxford-and-Slaven-Bilic
It was a performance that more than turned heads, with then-manager Slaven Bilic proclaiming afterward that the youngster "has everything."
Later on, the Croatian would tell the press that, at the time, "I couldn't move around the place without hearing that Reece Oxford was going to be the next big thing."
Moreover, in an interview with The Athletic, former West Ham trainee Lewis Page revealed that during his early days, Rice was unsure if he'd get a scholarship as Oxford "was the main talent at centre-back, and I'm not sure if the club thought Dec was good enough to play in midfield."
Unfortunately, the former Hammers gem didn't go on to become a world-beater, and after several loans, he left the club with just 17 appearances to his name to join Augsburg in the summer of 2019.
Oxford's senior career
Club
Augsburg
West Ham
Mönchengladbach
Reading
All Stats via Transfermarkt
Things went reasonably well for the youngster out in Germany for a while, but persistent injuries followed with a severe case of long COVID that prevented him from really kicking on.
In all, the 26-year-old made 80 appearances for the club, but his last senior professional game was all the way back in November 2022, and he's been without a club since July 1st of this year.
Reece-Oxford
Ultimately, while Oxford was never able to live up to the hype, he did carve out a decent career for himself in the Bundesliga, and we can only hope he finds himself a new team soon.