West Ham Sign Sanchez

Interesting to see that youngster Sergio Sanchez has signed his first professional contract with the club. The kid's ambitions do not extend beyond playing for the reserves this season but his versatility and specialism as a right back, must give him a chance of making it on to the bench at some point, if he is any good.

The importance of this is less Sanchez himself, and more the evidence of our international youth policy. Duxbury and co did not leave much of a legacy, unless financial millstones around the neck count as a legacy, but their decision to follow Arsenal's example by recruiting for the Academy from across the globe, may produce some positive gains.

The reserves won at Liverpool on Tuesday night and I shouldn't think we have managed that too often down the years. Maybe, just maybe, a nascent team is developing beneath the surface.