Throughout the 2024/25 season, we're taking a look at some of the best players to have worn a range of squad numbers for West Ham United, since they were introduced for the start of the 1993/94 campaign.
Vote for your favourite No17 from the four chosen nominees below!
All West Ham No17s since 1993/94 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
1993-1994 | 2000-2001 | 2009-2010 | 2017-2019 |
1994-1995 | 2001-2002 | 2010-2011 | 2020 |
1995-1999 | 2002-2003 | 2011-2016 | 2023-2024 |
1999-2000 | 2003-2009 | 2016-2017 | 2024-present |
Stan Lazaridis
DOB: 16.08.72 WHU: 1995-1999 Apps: 87 Goals: 3
Is Stan Lazaridis one of the best Australian players to grace the Premier League? You’d be far-fetched to find too many ahead of him.
In the summer of 1995, West Ham embarked on a pre-season tour Down Under, and little did they know they had just faced a future first-team star that would have such a significant presence in Claret and Blue across the next four seasons.
Having faced Lazaridis’ West Adelaide SC in a pre-season friendly, Frank Lampard Senior and Harry Redknapp moved swiftly to offer the versatile left-sided player a trial, and then a permanent contract.
Lazaridis went on to endure a turbulent first campaign, being handed just six appearances at Upton Park, but he emerged as a key cog in the Irons wheel in the remainder of his time at the Club.
He made 27 appearances in 1996/97 as West Ham finished 14th in the Premier League table. However, his best season in Claret and Blue came a year later, when he made 35 appearances and established himself as first choice in his position, while in 1998/99 he was involved in achieving a fifth-place finish and qualification for the UEFA Intertoto Cup.
Lazaridis subsequently dropped down a division to join Birmingham City in 1999, where he spent seven years and helped the Blues achieve their highest top-flight finish in 31 years of tenth in 2003/04. The now 52-year-old won 60 Socceroos caps, and helped snap a 32-year drought by going to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
Hayden Mullins
DOB: 27.03.79 WHU: 2003 (loan), 2003-2009 Apps: 213 Goals: 7
Ex-England youth international Hayden Mullins made 213 appearances in all competitions for the Hammers during a five-and-a-half-year spell, establishing himself as a fan favourite for his commitment, hard work and tenacity.
He signed from London rivals Crystal Palace in October 2003, having come through the ranks at Selhurst Park and made over 250 senior appearances for the Eagles, becoming the first arrival of Alan Pardew’s reign at the Boleyn Ground.
The now 45-year-old was often at the heart of the action during his 34 Irons appearances in all competitions during 2003/04, before ultimate disappointment against Crystal Palace in the EFL Championship Play-Off final in Cardiff. Two further visits to the Welsh capital were to follow for Mullins and West Ham in as many years, however, with victory over Preston North End this time sealing Play-Off final success at the end of 2004/05, before a run to the 2006 FA Cup final saw the Hammers beaten by Liverpool on penalties.
Among the heroes who helped pull off the great escape from relegation in 2006/07, Mullins left for Portsmouth in 2009, and also featured for Reading, Birmingham and Notts County before hanging up his boots in 2015. He has since gone into coaching, and is currently involved in the Fulham academy set-up.
Joey O’Brien
DOB: 17.02.86 WHU: 2011-2016 Apps: 105 Goals: 3
You could somewhat sum up the whole of Joey O’Brien’s career with the question ‘what if?’. With so much talent and potential, what could the Irishman have become had he managed to stay off the treatment table for a prolonged period?
O’Brien had only played four first-team matches in two years before he was handed a trial by newly-appointed boss Sam Allardyce in 2011. That trial turned into a two-year contract offer, and his subsequent 33 outings in all competitions in the 2011/12 season helped West Ham secure promotion back to the top tier, via the EFL Championship Play-Offs.
Following promotion, O’Brien went on to play 54 Premier League games for the east Londoners over the next two seasons, and scored his first top-flight goal on a cold, rainy night against Stoke.
But injuries reared their ugly heads again, with knee, calf and hamstring issues ruling him out of consistent action throughout the next two terms, including during the memorable Farewell Boleyn campaign. He did pass the 100-appearance mark for the Irons though, when he featured against FC Lusitanos in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers in July 2015.
The former Republic of Ireland international finished his playing career with Shamrock Rovers in his homeland, and he is currently assistant to boss Damien Duff at Shelbourne.
Javier Hernández
DOB: 01.06.88 WHU: 2017-2019 Apps: 63 Goals: 17
Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández arrived in east London with a big reputation in July 2017, having scored 59 goals during a five-year spell at Manchester United, where he won league and domestic cup honours and played in the UEFA Champions League, and enjoyed subsequent stints at Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen.
The early signs for Hernández were promising as he scored his first two goals on just his second appearance when the Hammers were beaten 3-2 by Southampton at St Mary’s. Then, just five months after signing, Slaven Bilić - the manager who had brought him to the Club - was replaced by David Moyes, who the Mexican striker had worked with at Old Trafford.
Three goals in four games from Chicharito towards the end of the 2017/18 campaign helped West Ham to a 13th-place finish, but he had slipped down the pecking order behind the free-scoring Marko Arnautović, who bagged eleven goals and finished as our top scorer.
Hernández found opportunities limited in 2018/19, starting just 14 Premier League games, and despite tallying seven top-flight goals, he duly left for Sevilla early the following season.
The now 36-year-old, who is his country’s all-time leading goalscorer with 52 goals, is currently with Guadalajara in his homeland.
