West Ham United have seen several goalscorers rise from the Academy to the first team over the years - including Tony Cottee and Jermain Defoe - and lifelong fan Freddie Sears is promising to follow in such illustrious footsteps. The 2007/08 campaign was his breakthrough year. He scored on his first-team debut that March and then helped England to the 2008 Under-19 Euro in the Czech Republic.

Searsy, as he is known to his team-mates, joined the club as a schoolboy at the age of eleven. Citing Paolo Di Canio as his all-time favourite player, he dreams of leading the West Ham United attack at Wembley Stadium. After beginning the 2006/07 campaign as a regular substitute for the Under-18s he soon forced his way into contention with his goals earning him a starting berth. His chances of realising his hopes took a major leap forward in the 2007/08 campaign with a prolific run for the U18s - including a hat-trick against Millwall in October 2007.

By then he had already made his England bow, getting 27 minutes as a substitute in a 4-0 U19 friendly win against Belarus on 11 September. The Hornchurch-based striker then suffered a setback, however, with a broken foot sidelining him at the end of 2007. However, he fought his way back to fitness and was soon back among the goals - not least with four goals in his first three outings of 2008.

Reserve-team football also came his way, and he particularly impressed when partnering Craig Bellamy in a 1-0 win away to Portsmouth in January before a two-goal show in a 3-1 win alongside Dean Ashton at Tottenham Hotspur the following month. He had scored 25 goals in 24 matches for the youths and reserves in the 2007/08 campaign, and just signed a new deal with the club, by the time he made it on to the bench on 15 March for the visit of Blackburn Rovers. He came on with 16 minutes to play and barely five minutes later had headed the winner in a rousing 2-1 home win.

Sears, who cites John Terry as the player he would most like to play against, was born on 27 November 1989. He cites his dad Dave as his inspiration but another influence on his career is Academy director Tony Carr who claimed: "Freddie has got what it takes to force himself into reckoning with the first team".