West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has revealed that emerging youngster Toni Martinez is unlikely to be in the senior squad against Brighton on Friday night.
Many Hammers fans have been calling for the 20-year-old to be promoted to the senior squad after some impressive performances for the youth team.
The centre-forward has scored an incredible 23 goals in 26 games for the Under-23s side and is one of the most highly-rated talents at the London Stadium.
West Ham host Brighton on Friday night in the Premier League and are without suspended striker Andy Carroll.
However, Bilic has stated that Martinez is unlikely to get a call-up to the senior team despite his impressive start to the campaign.
“Martinez is showing good form. He’s been with us a couple of times, in pre-season, and is improving a lot, but we have enough options so he will probably not be in the squad,” Bilic said in his pre-match press conference, as quoted by the club’s official website.
Martinez is yet to be included in the West Ham squad this season, with the likes of Carroll, Javier Hernandez and Diafra Sakho keeping him out of contention.
The Spanish centre-forward can only hope to keep impressing at youth level and catch the eye of Bilic.
He went on loan to League One club Oxford United last season and scored three goals in 17 appearances for them.
OPINION
There is not much more that Martinez can do to get himself involved in the senior squad and fans have pleaded with the manager for his inclusion. The striker is currently in red-hot form right now and a home clash against Brighton could be the perfect game to give him a late cameo off the bench. West Ham are lacking goals in the final third and handing one of their rising stars would be a good idea. There have been countless occasions of one senior debut sparking the rise of a talented youngster and Martinez could well be the next in line if given a chance.