There was something quite unique about Divin Mubama's 2023. Across the last 12 months, the 19-year-old completed an unusual treble in Claret and Blue!
Through the calendar year, Mubama was a member of the matchday squad for the UEFA Europa Conference League final in June. He had also won the FA Youth Cup at Arsenal in May and was a key part of the U18’s Premier League South title-winning campaign. While other young talents, such as Ollie Scarles, Regan Clayton and Kaelan Casey, featured in all three competitions, Mubama’s place in the matchday squad in Prague means he has each of our 2023 winner’s medals in his collection – a feat no other Hammer can boast!
And yet, there was more to come for the Newham local. Indeed, the trophies tell half the story of Mubama’s very successful calendar year.
Having made his full debut in November 2022, recording his first senior goal involvement in our 3-1 win over FCSB, when his header was diverted in for an own-goal, Mubama then made his Premier League bow on Boxing Day against Arsenal. The Emirates was his stage, as it would be five months later in the FA Youth Cup final.
From that fixture, the Premier League ball, awarded to players after their first game, sits proudly in his living room. His FA Youth Cup final shirt is close too. As is his match ball from his hat-trick in the semi-final win over Southampton at London Stadium.
Each memento recalls a moment from some year for the youngster. But there was more to come in 2023. A first senior goal against AEK Larnaca came in March. He had been on the pitch for just eleven minutes when he found the net. Something, he does a fair bit, you’d have to say!
Indeed, Mubama struck 15 times in Premier League 2 in 2022/23, while eight goals in five matches helped bring the Club’s fourth FA Youth Cup title home. As such, the 19-year-old ended the season as the Mark Noble Young Hammer of the Year. Interestingly, the last player to score a hat-trick in the FA Youth Cup before Mubama did last year… was Noble in 2004/05.
And so, heading into 2024, Mubama’s journey from an eight-year-old arriving at Chadwell Heath to a senior professional and first-team squad member is all pretty crazy. He is just getting started, though. We all have to remember that.
While Mubama is a player living the dream, he is a player still learning to live it, too. A player learning to deal with the highs and lows of football. A player with so much more to come.
Right now, though, the young striker is in a good place. He is enjoying the challenge of mixing it with the first team. And more than holding his own too. He admits seeing himself appear on Match of Day will get some getting used to though! He has plenty of time for that, however.
Of course, the last 12 months have been a tremendous start to his West Ham career, but Mubama prefers not to romanticise 2023. Or dwell on the past. Instead, he is determined to make his mark. Determined to cement his place in David Moyes' first-team squad. Determined to net his first Premier League goal.
Heading into 2024, Mubama knows his football journey has only just begun. And he, like all in Claret and Blue, hopes more years like 2023 are just around the corner!
I think my Premier League debut is the moment that stands out from the last 12 months.
That has always been my dream since I was a kid. You watch things like that on Match of the Day, so just to make my debut in not just any stadium, but a big stadium like the Emirates, was something I’ll never forget.
Growing up, I liked watching Match of the Day purely because you get the see the goals, and I loved that as a kid.
I used to love watching Ronaldo. I used to go on YouTube and watch highlights and I still do to this day. It’s mad that I’m on Match of the Day, it’s surreal really because you want to be in the Premier League and now, you’re in and around the Premier League you want more. The dream is still going.
The Premier League ball from my debut is in my living room.
It’s with my hat-trick ball from the semis of the FA Youth Cup. The Youth Cup was good, playing with your friends, people you grew up with. We used to talk about winning the Youth Cup when we were a lot younger, and we had a really strong group last season. Playing at London Stadium with the boys was a great experience. We were just ready, it’s hard to explain. We just had this fire in our belly, it was a special group.
I think it was the best group I had played with at the Academy.
Simply because we’re all actually friends and that makes a huge difference. We get along with each other well and in every round, we went through our confidence grew and grew. I got eight goals on the run. But every time I went with the Under-18s last season, I had to make sure I was setting the standards.
There were top players in the group and the levels were already set anyway.
Kevin Keen did a great job of laying the base and the standards in and out of the dressing room and that really solidified us into everything that came onto the pitch. I was doing well for the U21s, scoring a lot at that level and my form was just growing and growing. Every game was just another chance to prove to myself and prove to everyone watching, to just keep kicking on and grinding.
All the coaches have played their part in different ways.
Kev just used to come into the dressing room and walk side to side, and sometimes he wouldn’t say a word and the silence could speak a thousand words. Or he would do this thing where he would just sigh, which would speak a thousand words too. Sometimes his presence was enough. Everyone respected him highly and anyone working under Kev would take that on board very quickly.
Having that tour bus to celebrate the UEFA Europa Conference League win in London was incredible.
Experiencing that was unbelievable. I used to ball boy when I was younger at Upton Park, it was mad turning up there and I’ve never seen anything like the scenes. The number of people, the joy on their faces. I think it was the whole of East London. It was a mad day and something I’ll never forget for sure.
Celebrations like that make you want to push on.
Not just now, but in my career, you just want to push on for as many trophies as you can and for moments that you’ll never forget. It did surprise me how many West Ham fans were there. I could see some of my friends when the bus was going around East London. It was mad. Everything happened so quickly, and I just want more and more. That’s the nature of football. It goes so quickly that I think it’s only at the end of your career you get to look back and reflect.
I really enjoyed the pre-season tour to Australia.
There were internationals for a lot of the players, so it was a majority of U21s and a few of the senior boys. It was my chance to kick on and I made sure I came into pre-season sharp. I scored four or five goals in the summer, and it allowed me to be in the manager’s head, which let to me going into the season with the first team permanently.
It’s obviously good being a first-team player.
You’re learning every day in and out of the dressing room. There are a lot of internationals you learn from too. There are loads of hard moments because the quality is very high and you have to be on it. You have to be patient also. It’s almost a treadmill experience, where I’m in a breakthrough period. It’s the hardest period for lots of young players because it’s a period of loads of failure and you can either decide to just give up or keep going. I definitely feel like I’m staying strong and keeping going though.
It’s how you respond to having a bad session the next day.
I try to speak to the senior boys or ask a lot of questions to the senior lads a lot about their experiences. People like Cress, Kurt, Nayef, all of them. They are always speaking to me about being patient and that you will always have ups and downs, highs and lows in your career. I’ve always had that mindset of just keeping going and turning up because the day you start hiding is the day you get caught out.
In 2024, I’d say my biggest goal is playing as many games as I can in men’s football.
I think that’s key for me, just kicking on and seeing where my career goes from there. The big dream? My big dream is to win the Champions League, that’s my goal.
