Academy Director, Terry Westley has backed Toni Martinez to have another free-scoring season in a West Ham United shirt.
Martinez scored his first and second goals of the season on Sunday and Westley, speaking ahead of tonight's Premier League International Cup match with Tottenham Hotspur, told whufc.com that the Spaniard has all the attributes to improve on the 13 goals he netted in 2016-17.
“Sunday helped his confidence and his belief” he explained.
“If he continues to play at this level, he’s going to end up in double figures without a shadow of doubt.”
Martinez scored five times in August last season but had failed to score in any of West Ham’s opening three matches of this campaign. His brief barren spell was ended in the 45th minute on Sunday when rifling the ball in to the roof of the net from close range after a well-worked one-two with Dan Kemp.
"Toni is the type of a player – a Harry Kane dare I say it who apparently doesn’t score in August - they know they’re going to get goals."
Terry Westley
His celebration that followed told you all you needed to know about how much the goal meant to him as he sprinted back down the touchline to celebrate with the coaching staff and his teammates on the bench.
For Westley though, his qualities have never been in doubt: “He is a goalscorer and, yes, that’s what he’s going to be judged on.”
“But every game he makes chances. Over the last few games he could have easily looked at the scoresheet and had six goals, so to get off the mark now gives him that confidence, but he’s a constant threat.”
At just 20 years of age, Martinez has been capped at youth level for Spain, already enjoyed a successful loan spell with League One outfit Oxford United and was a part of the two first team pre-season camps - most recently scoring in successive matches against Werder Bremen and Altona 93.
It is therefore no wonder that big things are hoped of the former Valencia man, who Westley has likened to Tottenham and England striker Harry Kane.
“Toni is the type of a player – a Harry Kane dare I say it who apparently doesn’t score in August – they know they’re going to get goals," he continued.
“He is in that mould, he knows that sooner or later one is going to drop to him or he’s going to rifle one in because he’s always in and around the action.
“He might miss some and you’ll get frustrated with that, but as a coach you know, sooner or later, he’s going to bag goals.”
The Hammers begin their Premier League International Cup campaign against Tottenham Hotspur this evening. Kick-off is at 7:00pm and you can follow the action live here or on Twitter.