West Ham United have had some big names come through the academy, but not quite turn out as they were projected to. The likes of Reece Oxford, Grady Diangana, and Conor Coventry are just some of the names that sticks out in recent years. Of course, one player did shine through in those times though, and that’s Declan Rice.
Rice moved to Arsenal for a fee of around £105m, making him the club’s record sale, after making 245 appearances for the Hammers, scoring 15 goals, providing 13 assists and even being named club captain in 2022.
But there was another top academy prospect, who wasn’t deemed good enough, who has now moved to Manchester City.
West Ham's former rising star
Divin Mubama came through the West Ham academy, in the same age group as George Earthy, a highly-rated talent who is still at the club. The 19-year-old striker made 57 appearances for the U18 side, scoring 40 goals and providing five assists, before making 34 appearances for the U21 side, scoring 18 goals and providing two assists.
Mubama was then handed his senior debut against Romanian club, FCSB. He went on to make 18 appearances for the senior team, scoring one goal, providing one assist, and totalling 431 minutes played.
David Moyes even labelled Mubama “different from the rest” when speaking about him, lauding his mentality and attitude “as good as any top player”.
But that wasn’t enough, as West Ham did not give him a new deal at the club, which ended up allowing Manchester City to pick him up for a compensation package of around £1.2m.
The striker has yet to play any games for City, but the question remains, would Mubama not have been a good option for the Hammers to call upon, especially with the form of Michail Antonio as of late.
How Mubama compares to Antonio
The 34-year-old striker has been at West Ham since 2015, making 316 appearances for the club, scoring 83 goals, providing 41 assists, and totalling 22,522 minutes played. Antonio is the Hammers’ all-time top scorer in the Premier League, having netted 68 times in the competition thus far.
But the Jamaican is slowing down, especially with his output, as he has only managed one goal and one assist in the opening seven Premier League games this season, after only managing seven goals and two assists in 32 appearances last term.
Stats (per 90 mins)
23/24
24/25
Goals
0.31
0.20
Assists
0.09
0.20
xG
0.29
0.38
Progressive Carries
2.37
2.29
Progressive Passes
1.29
2.08
Shot Total
1.56
2.94
Goals/Shot
0.20
0.07
Shot-Creating Actions
1.83
2.50
Aerials Won
1.88
1.46
When analysing his metrics from this season, compared to last season, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, with some metrics being better, and some being worse. Notably, his conversion rate, scoring 0.20 goals/shot last season per 90, compared to 0.07 per 90 this season is drastically down, however, his assist numbers and creation numbers are actually up.
Antonio is still proving to be a useful squad addition, especially in the absence of their new striker signing, Niclas Füllkrug, but could Mubama have been a brighter option for the future, to develop alongside someone like Fullkrug, with the potential to be their Antonio upgrade. That’s the question many West Ham fans will be asking.
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