Sixteen-year-old Reece Oxford continues to rise to the challenge of senior football this pre-season and is gradually learning the craft of playing in midfield along the way.
West Ham’s youngest ever player was paired with fellow Academy graduate Josh Cullen in front of the back four at Charlton Athletic on Saturday and, as they tend to be, the pair were easy on the eye in possession at the Valley.
Though a midfield berth will take some getting used to, Oxford is grateful for the experience and believes the role will do wonders for his technical ability.
He told West Ham TV: “It was a good game and a good experience for me playing in midfield. The team did well.
“Josh [Cullen] and I were talking before the game. We said one and two touches and then pop it. Angelo [Ogbonna] was telling us the same, one and two touches, so we just did that.
“We played well and kept a clean sheet. We changed into a diamond and I was behind, with Josh more in front, but either way, we played well together.
"It's a good experience for me, getting on the ball and working on my technical side."
With an attacking trio of Dimitri Payet, Enner Valencia and Martin Samuelsen directly in front of him, Oxford insists it was simply a case of feeding the Hammers’ more attacking midfielders as quickly and as often as possible.
“We were trying to give them the ball as much as we could,” he explained. “Dimitri was getting on it a lot, we were creating chances but the finishing just wasn't there on Saturday.
“He [Payet] is good at getting on the half turn and getting it and turning it and creating chances.”
At the other end, the Hammers had the unenviable task of getting to grips with 6 ft 7 Dane Simon Makienok, but Oxford was impressed with a job well done at the back.
“He's tall, quick and strong, the centre-backs dealt well with him, I thought.
“Angelo and Tonks were talking to me all game, just saying cover, cover them in front. They did a good job and we did a good job too. It was a good challenge for me.”
All in all, Oxford is rightly delighted with an excellent pre-season thus far and was even handed the captain's armband late on at the Valley by Diafra Sakho.
Having started both legs of the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round tie against FC Lusitans, he would love to battle his way back into contention.
“It's going well, I’m getting a lot of games in. Hopefully I could [get back in the squad], but hopefully the team can just progress in the Europa League and get to the group stages.”