West Ham United have welcomed ten new scholars at a special induction evening at the Boleyn Ground.
The new arrivals have all successfully come through the Academy as schoolboys and will embark on full-time careers at Little Heath from July.
Academy Director Tony Carr and his coaching staff have identified all ten as potential first-team players of the future, provided they show the hard-work, attitude, talent and commitment required to reach the very highest level.
Cheye Alexander, Samuel Baxter, Leo Chambers (pictured), Dymon Labonne, Elliot Lee, Taylor Miles, Kieran Sadlier, Nigel Seidu, Frazer Shaw and Joshua Siafa will all hope to follow in the footsteps of the dozens of players who have gone on to successful careers.
"Leo Chambers is the captain of England U16s, Kieran Sadlier is a Republic of Ireland U17 international and Elliot Lee has come into the U18s already on various occasions and done very well in the last half-dozen games of the season, scoring regularly including a hat-trick at Chelsea on the final day of the season," explained Carr.
"We have got high hopes for those three players and there are two or three slightly less mature players who are very good footballers. We hope with full-time training that they can turn into good players.
"As we always say, we're not trying to build teams. That's not what we're here for. We try to identify individuals. We put them into teams for them to showcase their skills and the conveyor belt is still moving and we certainly feel there is talent coming through for West Ham United."
The ten new recruits signed their scholarship contracts at a special ceremony in the company of their families, Carr, his coaching and backroom staff.
Following a talk from the Academy Director on what they can expect as full-time scholars, the youngsters and their families enjoyed a buffet dinner before heading off to continue their revision for their upcoming GSCE examinations.