West Ham have sent winger Reece Clairmont back to Arsenal following a trial, according to the Daily Cannon.

The 17-year-old played just over 35 minutes of the second half for the Hammers Under 18s against Leicester City a couple of weeks ago.

Clairmont replaced striker Mehmet Akay Halim during the 1-1 draw, but it seems he didn’t do enough to impress West Ham’s coaching staff.

The Daily Cannon report that the teenager is now back training with Arsenal, and it’s likely he will have trials at other teams over the coming weeks and months.

With Clairmont in the last year of his scholarship, it is looking increasingly likely that he will be let go at the end of the season by the Gunners.

The forward has been eligible for a professional contract for the best part of nine months but he has not been offered one so far. West Ham were clearly contemplating tabling a proposal but they have now backed away.

Clairmont is not the only Arsenal player that the club have looked to recruit

Luis Brown also came through the Hale End academy and he made the switch across London in July, having made appearances for West Ham Under 18s on trial in the second half of last season.

The centre-back is currently part of the Under 21 setup, but he has yet to make an appearance since joining the club officially at the start of the summer.

West Ham have some talented players coming through the ranks

The Irons don’t tend to raid the youth academies of other clubs due to the fact that their own system is good at producing plenty of talent by itself.

Arguably the two most promising players coming through at the moment are centre-back Kaelan Casey and midfielder Lewis Orford. The latter was handed a new five-year contract a the start of this month.

Find out who is in West Ham’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here