3. Freddie, steady, go
It is sometimes hard to believe that Freddie Potts is still just 21 years old.
The Academy of Football graduate has been with West Ham United for 15 years, and made his first-team debut in a UEFA Europa League group-stage tie with Dinamo Zagreb in December 2021, when he was aged only 18 years and three months.
Since then, Potts has been part of West Ham’s 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League-winning squad and played 80 senior games during loan spells at Wycombe Wanderers in EFL League One and Portsmouth in the Championship.
Throughout those two spells, and his 15 years at the Club, though, Potts has maintained the ambition to become a first-team starter here, for the same West Ham his father Steve and brother Dan played for previously.
Having put in a huge amount of work, and been relentlessly professional, Potts is now on the cusp of fulfilling that ambition. He has started each of West Ham’s final three pre-season matches in the heart of the midfield, and would dearly love to do so again at Sunderland when West Ham kick-off the Premier League season there on Saturday.