Academy of Football starlet Bernardo Rosa has signed a two-year contract extension with West Ham United.
The 19-year-old Brazilian has joined Under-23s team-mates Olatunji Akinola, Alfie Lewis, Emmanuel Longelo and Sean Adarkwa, who all recently signed deals, in extending his stay in east London.
A versatile and consistent performer, Rosa began his career as an attacking midfielder, making his U18s debut for the Hammers in 2016 at just 16.
Rosa transitioned to the U23s last summer and, over 24 appearances in 2019/20, began to apply his trademark diligence to the position of full-back, attaining two goals, five assists and a Premier League 2 Player of the Month nomination for November.
Such form saw Rosa rewarded with his debut first-team matchday squad appearance, as he was named among manager David Moyes’ substitutes for the Premier League fixture at Sheffield United in January.
Rosa will now hope to use this extension as an opportunity to further his development with the Academy and realise his first-team aspirations in the future.
“I’m really happy to sign a new contract with West Ham,” Rosa told whufc.com.
“I would like to thank my parents for everything they have done for me – they’ve always supported me in my goals – and all of my coaches. I’m grateful to them.
“Last season was my best so far – I worked really hard in training and feel like I improved a lot, and I was happy I could show that work in my performances.
“Over the next two years, my personal goal is to break into the first-team squad and establish myself there, and I’m ready to keep working hard to do so.”
U23s Lead Coach Dmitri Halajko added: “This is really positive news for the Academy and Bernardo as an individual. He’s worked extremely hard to win this contract.
“His versatility, consistency and robustness have both been really impressive this season. He’s played more minutes on the pitch than anybody else in the U23s.
“Bernardo is a player who’s comfortable on the ball and, whether he’s playing in midfield or at full-back, he likes to get forward and score and assist goals. He’s also not shy of working hard for the team. He’s a really good all-round individual who covers a lot of areas important for a modern-day player.
“Now, he needs to carry on working hard and developing if he’s going to have a chance of making that first bench appearance improve into his West Ham United debut.”
