Bringing the Academy stateside

I meant to write about this when it was announced a few weeks ago, but it slipped my mind. West Ham have formed a partnership with United Soccer Leagues, which includes the second and third divisions of men's professional soccer in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean and also young adult and youth soccer. The parternship starts with some coaching and training initiatives and eventually envisions a West Ham USA youth academy and professional team competing in the USL.

I see this as a positive development for both West Ham and the U.S. men's national team. Given the Academy of Football's reputation for developing players, it has to be a good thing for the national team that American players will be exposed to their methods and personnel at the youth level. For West Ham, it's a chance to pick up on promising talent at an earlier stage and perhaps nurture and develop a few players who make their way to the first-team squad eventually. West Ham can't be splashing out cash for players indefinitely, no matter how much the TV networks are paying. A mix of in-house development and purchases in the transfer market is necessary for a team that wants to build into something much bigger. This could provide a conduit for Latin American players to have a connection to West Ham and possibly enable the club to snag players who would otherwise drift to teams with bigger profiles.