West Ham United will regret letting 'top' young star go as prolific England U21 record continues

West Ham United have had their fair share of problems in recent times, both on and off the pitch, and so to let a top young player slip through the net is understandable but equally frustrating.

As of the present moment, the Hammers find themselves in the bottom three of the Premier League and relegation remains a worrying possibility, despite a recent return to form under Nuno Espirito Santo culminating in back-to-back wins. The east London outfit continue with their struggles to find a regular goalscoring No.9 and often have had to rely on the brilliance of Jarrod Bowen in recent seasons.

But things could have been different. Back in 2023, as the Hammers went on to win the UEFA Conference League and basked in the glory of European success, a promising young striker broke through and begun to make an imprint on the first team. His name was Divin Mubama - but just a year later, he had departed the London Stadium and has left fans wondering what might have been.

Mubama shines with double in MOTM England U21 display

Mubama, now on the books of Manchester City, left West Ham at the end of his contract in June 2024 and has begun to thrive elsewhere. The academy product had spent 11 years at the club but rejected a new deal with the Irons, who were able to extract a £2million compensation fee from City for the striker.

While his slow progress last season will have lessened the sting for Hammers fans over his exit, the 21-year-old has now begun to take strides in his young career - and West Ham will undoubtedly be regretting not doing more to prevent his premature departure.

Mubama struck twice for England’s Under-21s in a 4-0 rout of Slovakia last night, taking his total for Lee Carsley’s side to five goals in five matches and earning himself the Man of the Match award. The young striker has scored five goals in 15 matches on loan at Championship high-flyers Stoke City so far this season and is certainly beginning to make a name for himself, scoring a hat-trick against Bristol City earlier this month.

Whether he will make it into Man City’s first team at some point remains in doubt, but West Ham would certainly like to have had him right now. Should he continue on his current trajectory, the 2004-born striker could certainly have forced himself into Nuno’s plans by next season. As it is, the club who developed him will have to watch from afar as Mubama looks to go on and achieve great things.

‘He had a bit about him’ - Aaron Cresswell speaks about Mubama first impressions

Current Stoke City team-mate Aaron Cresswell, who played alongside Mubama at West Ham before also departing the club as a free agent, recently spoke of the striker and of the first impressions he gave when training with the Hammers first team aged 17.

“I speak sometimes now with, like, Divin who is just kind of starting his career off,” said Cresswell. “And there’s times where you reflect and you sit back and you think, ‘where’s that time gone?’ You want to help the younger boys now and pass the experience on in any way you can. But yeah, the one thing I will say is it just goes so fast.

“It didn’t quite work out for him at West Ham and he’s obviously signed for Man City, and yeah I’m really really looking forward to watching him this season. He has got all the attributes to be a top striker. He’s a great lad. He’s humble. He’s willing to work hard. So, he’s one that I’m keeping an eye on this year.

“Obviously, I’ve known Divin since he was a young kid, you know. I’ll never forget. We actually spoke about it the other week when he first joined us, I think he must have been 17 at the time on a pre-season tour.

“I remember thinking, ‘Gosh, who’s this kid?’. He’s enthusiastic, putting himself about. I remember he was coming up against Craig Dawson, who is a big centre-half and I remember him just absolutely flying into him and I thought, ‘Yeah, he’s got a bit about him’. And now look!”