West Ham United academy talent Emmanuel Longelo feels first-team football will come if he can keep impressing, as he looks to follow in the footsteps of Grady Diangana, Joe Powell and Conor Coventry.
The trio were handed their debuts when West Ham took on Macclesfield Town in the third round of the EFL Cup last month.
Diangana even managed to get on the scoresheet twice as the Hammers put eight goals past the lower league side in what was a comfortable win.
Longelo believes that exciting times are here for those looking to break through at West Ham and told the club's official site: “It’s very inspiring for us in the Academy at the moment, with those guys coming through and making their debuts.
“We know that if we can keep working hard then we can hopefully get our opportunity if we are playing well enough.
"It’s good to know that there is a path to the first team there and that’s what we have to have our minds set on.”
Longelo recently featured for the Under-23 side and played in the Premier League 2 Division. The forward hopes to make a bigger impact and subsequently feature more regularly for the Under-23s.
Describing himself as an agile attacker, Longelo said he is eyeing being more consistent.
“I would describe myself as a fast attacker who is tricky.
"I have scored a couple of times for the U18s this year but I want to focus on being consistent in front of goal and scoring and creating more goals.
“If I can do that for the U18s, I think that will go hand-in-hand with making the step up to be with the U23s more regularly and that will take me one more step closer to being involved with the first team, which is ultimately where every scholar wants to be”, Longelo explained.
Manuel Pellegrini's senior side have suffered injuries this season and Longelo will be hoping to take his chance if one comes his way in the current campaign.
