Academy of Internationals | Dan Kemp

Our Academy holds an important place in the development of elite players. Over the years, we’ve seen our own become West Ham legends, lift European trophies and go on to have successful careers. But before all that, they were humble Hammers, making their names at Chadwell Heath and representing their nations at youth level.

In this series, we explore some of the talent our very own West Ham graduates shared a pitch with on the international stage…

Dan Kemp in 2017 U20 Toulon Tournament action

Described by fans of the clubs he has played for as a skilful, diminutive midfielder with a wand of a left foot, Dan Kemp joined the Hammers as an U18 having spent his schoolboys years at Chelsea.

Averaging a goal or an assist in every game he played for our U18s, he was almost immediately promoted to the U23s Premier League 2 squad upon his arrival in east London. Under the guidance of Terry Westley and Liam Manning, Kemp posted impressive numbers for an attacking midfielder, helping the development side win the Premier League 2 Division 2 Play-Offs in May 2017. Just a week later, he made the Premier League bench for the first time against Burnley, the same match in which his development teammate and close friend Declan Rice made his senior debut.

Kemp’s best season for the U23s came in 2019/20, when the young Hammers were on course to win Division 2 before the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed the campaign. After appearing on the bench in the FA Cup, he earned his first senior loan spell at Stevenage in January of that season, the club he now represents, and scored on his full debut against Exeter City.

The pandemic limited him to just six appearances for The Boro, but he later earned his stripes on loan at Blackpool and Leyton Orient.

After leaving the Hammers permanently in 2021, Kemp once again became known for his end product. His last two seasons have seen him hit his stride, winning Swindon Town’s Player of the Season award in 2023/24 despite being recalled by parent club MK Dons midway through the campaign. Returning to Stevenage, where his senior career began, he went on to claim both their Players’ Player and Supporters’ Player of the Season honours for 2024/25.

This season, he has picked up right where he left off, with Stevenage making one of their best-ever starts to a league campaign, firmly in League One promotion contention. These performances earned him an improved contract, which runs until 2028.

But before carving out his successful league career, Kemp represented the Young Lions at U19 and U20 level while at West Ham.

Just a month after that first Premier League bench appearance alongside Rice, he featured for England U20s at the 45th edition of the Festival International Espoirs Provence, previously known as the Toulon Tournament, which the Young Lions would go on to win with a penalty-shootout victory over Ivory Coast in the final.

Playing two years above his age group, Kemp came off the bench against Scotland in the last four, and within a minute, assisted one of Newcastle United’s current players for his second goal of the game. The other mystery player from that team is the only other player of the eleven to have made his senior England debut.

• No8

An FA Cup winner with Leicester City in 2020/21, this winger unfortunately missed his boyhood club’s Wembley triumph through injury. The-then 23-year-old had scored 13 goals and registered four assists in all competitions that campaign, with the Foxes flying as high as third in the Premier League, before a knee injury ruled him out for the rest of the season in February.

At Wembley, his Leicester teammates lifted the FA Cup, defeating the other mystery player’s Chelsea, who just two weeks later would win the UEFA Champions League final in Porto.

At Leicester, the No8 would record his best Premier League goalscoring return in 2022/23, netting 13 times despite the club’s first relegation since their 2015/16 title-winning exploits, form that earned him a £38 million move to Newcastle United.

Although he missed three months of his first season on Tyneside with a foot injury, he scored and assisted on debut. His most memorable contribution of the season however came in March 2024 against West Ham, where his two late goals secured a 4-3 comeback win at St James’ Park.

So far in 2025/26, he has scored three goals in the UEFA Champions League, and four in 17 appearances in all competitions for the Magpies.

On the international stage, his only England appearance came in that 3-0 Wembley win over Wales in October 2020, when he became the 1,256th player to represent the Three Lions, a number he has tattooed on his left arm.

• No2

Captain of his boyhood club Chelsea, this player was the 1,255th to play for England’s senior team and has since earned 22 caps.

A two-time FA Youth Cup winner, his breakout season came at Championship side Wigan Athletic, where he was named 2018/19 Player of the Season.

When fit, the 25-year-old has been Chelsea’s first-choice right-back, starting their aforementioned Champions League final win over Manchester City in Porto.

In 2025, he has added both UEFA Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup medals to his trophy cabinet, and returned to the England squad after a three-year absence.

Football clearly runs in the family, as his younger sister is also a Chelsea and England star.