While West Ham's finances continue to be a cause for concern, the club's famed production line is still producing players who could save them money in the transfer market in the future. The likes of Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand have often been cited as previous success stories for Tony Carr's academy.
More recently, Mark Noble, Jack Collison, James Tomkins and Zavon Hines have made the breakthrough. And many shrewd judges believe the next player poised to follow in their footsteps is Jordan Spence.
The 19-year-old defender is yet to turn out for the first team, but has been steadily developing in the lower leagues, where his form suggests he has a bright future in the game.
Spence joined West Ham's Academy in 2004 where he impressed sufficiently to be rewarded with a ful -time youth contract in April 2006. The six foot three inch tall centre back was a regular in the club's youth team where his performances earned him recognition from the England under-16s. He won six caps and led the team to successin the Victory Shield in November 2005.
Spence, who lists his ambition as to at Wembley for West Ham, has progressed through the international set-up with ease and was selected as England's captain for the under-17 World Cup.
He had previously led the Three Lions in the European Championships at under-17 level - and his achievements at the tournament in South Korea earned Spence a place in the record books.
His late goal against Brazil not only took England into the final 16 of the competition, but it also marked the first time England had beaten Brazil in a Fifa tournament.
Spence's meteoric rise continued with the under-19s when he made his debut in October 2007, despite being two years younger than his team mates. The coaches at West Ham hold the Woodford-born player in high regard and he was assigned a squad number this term after two seasons playing for the reserve team. He has since been named captain of the under-19s and had a successful loan spell at Leyton Orient last season.
The Orient manager at the time, Martin Ling, saw enough potential to increase his initial eight-game loan until the end of the season, and Spence eventually racked up 21 appearances for the O's.
This term, Spence has moved up a division and is playing Championship football with Nigel Adkins's Scunthorpe United, where he has made 11 appearances and is clearly relishing playing regular first-team football.
Spence said: "I'd heard from some of the players who had been on loan here from Premier League clubs and they only had positive things to say about Nigel.
"He's been fantastic with me. He's a great man-manager and he also knows his football. We're all learning from him and hopefully we can repay the favour and get him results."
Spence also hailed Carr's impact on his career and knows he is following a tried and tested method to reach the Premier League He added: "It's hard not to remember the things he [Carr] tells you. They were drilled into us every single day. We were taught to play football the right way."
