Nuno Espirito Santo has made the most exciting decision at West Ham for years and it proves he’s ‘the one’

Nuno Espirito Santo has just made the most exciting decision at West Ham in years and the bold move underlines exactly why he is the perfect man to take the Hammers forward.

It has been a rollercoaster start to life at West Ham for Nuno Espirito Santo.

The Portuguese had Hammers fans eating out of the palm of his hand in his first few weeks at the club after succeeding the hapless Graham Potter.

Nobody imagined things could get any worse than they were under Julen Lopetegui when the Spaniard was shown the door by West Ham.

But in the immortal words of Mick McCarthy: ‘It can’. And it did under Potter.

His record was even worse than Lopetegui’s – and Avram Grant – leaving east London as officially the worst ever permanent manager in West Ham’s 130-year history.

Nuno’s rollercoaster start to life at West Ham

West Ham were going to wait until the October international break to axe Potter, leaving him in charge for difficult back-to-back away games at Everton and Arsenal.

But Nuno told David Sullivan he wanted to take over West Ham for those games.

That kind of attitude went down very well with the club’s fans.

What Nuno said and the way he came across in interviews and press conferences after taking the job also went down extremely well.

Talking about the West Ham way and telling the media ‘let’s go for it’ about the challenge of turning the Hammers around were music to the ears of supporters.

Ruthless team selection from the off, a draw at Everton which could have been a win and a respectable performance in defeat at Arsenal represented a solid start with plenty to build on.

Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images

But some bizarre team selections in damaging defeats to Brentford and Leeds saw Nuno questioned and criticised for the first time.

There was even a big Hammers conspiracy theory Nuno was trying to get the sack already with his curve ball changes.

The West Ham board issued a statement on Nuno’s future after a leak emerged about a supposed sack clause in his contract.

Nuno signed a three-year deal on taking over from Potter.

And a talkSPORT pundit revealed top West Ham sources told him they see Nuno as the one for the long-term.

A shock and superb 3-1 win against Newcastle showed why.

Nuno makes most exciting decision at West Ham for years

It was West Ham’s best and most complete 90-minute performance of the last two years.

A Hammers star revealed what Nuno did to inspire the Newcastle win and fans lapped it up.

The victory has breathed new life into the season and hopes of Premier League survival.

Now Nuno has just made the most exciting decision at West Ham for years and it proves he’s ‘the one’.

Hammers fans are fiercely proud of the club’s Academy roots.

It sits at the heart of the true West Ham way.

That’s why seeing Freddie Potts put in a man of the match display in the win over Newcastle made the victory all the more satisfying.

Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images

It also did Nuno’s reputation the world of good after some of the strange decisions in the previous two games.

Last week Nuno abruptly ended his press conference with a bold West Ham statement that the club’s Academy players were coming for the shirts of the first team stars.

He proved it by starting Potts in the Newcastle win.

West Ham fans have heard all this before, though.

Every Hammers manager starts off talking about the Academy of Football and promoting youth.

But usually the pressure to get results sees them lose their bottle and stick with experience, even when fans would rather see young players given a chance.

Real deal Nuno proves he’s ‘the one’ for West Ham

Nuno isn’t just talking a good game and paying lip service to the West Ham way and the Academy of Football, though.

The Portuguese, who has an undeniable aura, is the real deal.

West Ham fans have loved seeing a host of top young players training with the first team of late.

Many of them, from Mohamadou Kante to Preston Fearon and Airidas Golambeckis, have signed new long-term professional contracts in recent weeks.

Now Nuno has revealed those young stars seen training with the first team is not a gimmick to get fans onside.

Because he says he has now officially elevated those players to the first-team squad full-time.

Nuno says defender Ezra Mayers, goalkeeper Finlay Herrick, Golambeckis, and powerhouse midfielder Kante have all been rewarded for their fine form in the Academy and have now been promoted to the first team full-time.

“Four players of our Academy are working every day with us: Finlay, Airidas, Ezra, and Mo,” Nuno told the press, as reported by The Evening Standard.

“You don’t have to tell [them] anything, you just say look at him, try to reproduce what you see in him. Airidas, look at our centre-halves’ experience, and midfielders, look at [our] midfielders, this is how I look at the academy.

“Can we bring players and develop them? Maybe it’s not for now, but maybe in one year’s time we are talking about having more numbers of academy players in our squad.

“We have talent there; we just need to give them time and space to grow.”

This is one of the most ballsy and exciting moves from a West Ham manager for years.

Not even David Moyes promoted so many Academy players in one fell swoop like this.

Nuno appears to be the man who actually wants to integrate the Academy players and reflect the traditions of the club.

The Hammers may finally have found the one after the failures of Lopetegui and Potter.