Ashley Miller

Ashley Miller has been associated with West Ham United since he was eight years old and showed real potential in a high-profile reserve-team outings against Arsenal and Chelsea during the 2007/08 campaign.

The full-back, born on 5 September 1989, has plenty of pace and plenty of attacking ambition - underlined by the fact he cites Paolo Di Canio as his favourite Hammers player. Miller was taken on as a first-year Academy scholar back in May 2006 in the same intake as Freddie Sears, Jordan Spence and Junior Stanislas and has progressed to becoming a regular for the Under-18 side.

Occasional opportunities at reserve-team level, like his performances in November's 2-2 home draw against Arsenal and the 0-0 stalemate against Chelsea two months later, have also underlined his promise. The Hornchurch-based defender, nicknamed Millsey, cites Cristiano Ronaldo as the player he would most like to play against.