Hard to believe that West Ham’s left back is just 20 years old: **Ollie Scarles** seems to have been around for years.
In fact, last season he achieved his ‘breakthrough’ with a first team debut in December 2024, but many forget Scarles had already featured in the Europa Conference League-winning squad, making his Hammers first team debut in the match against FCSB in Romania in November 2022, _aged just 16 years and 326 days old._
So, already in his fourth year of first team football, Scarles is something of a seasoned pro and still under twenty one!
According to the [club website,](https://www.whufc.com/en/news/foundation-and-scarles-nominated-for-2026-london-football-awards) West Ham’s young talented defender has been shortlisted by The London Football Awards for the category of **Mens Young Player of the Year.**
This despite undergoing surgery for a broken collar bone and having to go through weeks of rehabilitation.
According to the West Ham site:
_“The London Football Awards, proudly supported by MiQ, have been celebrating the best of London football for more than ten years and are independently judged by senior figures from across the industry._
_Previous West Ham award winners include Mark Noble, Declan Rice, Harry Redknapp and David Moyes.”_
Brilliant for Ollie and for the club. It seems he’s won over Nuno too as his appearances under the Portuguese head coach are starting to rack up. If ever there was a role model for the current crop of academy graduates to follow on the ‘pathway’ to first team football, Ollie Scarles is it – and fully deserves the recognition that comes with the nomination.