Kaelan Casey

Casey defends with a calm that stands out for a young centre back, reading situations early rather than needing a desperate recovery to cover a mistake. He is a strong presence who competes hard in the air and wins individual battles against strikers who are often more experienced than he is. That calm has been built partly through loan spells away from West Ham, where senior football forced him to make real decisions under pressure.

The tension for any young centre back is the gap between looking assured in academy football and holding up physically and mentally in senior matches. Being a genuine boyhood fan adds pressure of its own, since local hope rarely goes easy on a player who grew up in the stands. Whether those loan spells turn into a real chance back home, rather than another season learning elsewhere, is the next step in his story.