A tall central midfielder who has made great strides under Tony Carr's direction in the West Ham United youth set-up.

Collison showed glimpses of his potential during the first team's 2007/08 pre-season friendlies, getting regular outings alongside more experienced team-mates. He continued that form into the campaign and was made reserve-team captain by Kevin Keen - a sign of the leadership qualities he already possesses despite his young age.

His first-team debut came on 1 January 2008 as a first-half replacement for the injured Freddie Ljungberg away to Arsenal, who won 2-0. By then Collison had opted to play international football for Wales - he qualified through a grandfather - and before the end of 2007 had played two Under-21 European qualfiers. He even scored a stunning solo goal on his debut - a 4-0 home win against Bosnia-Herzegovina on 17 November.