West Ham have tied down a player-exchange agreement with Dutch second division club VVV-Venlo.
The partnership has already started with defender Sam Westley moving to Venlo on loan as part of the deal and the Hammers are hoping that they will be able to bring in some exciting Dutch talent through the agreement.
West Ham academy manager and head of player development coaching, Terry Westley, was tasked with the job of finding a European club with whom West Ham could enter such an agreement.
Terry has revealed that he has been to a number of European countries to talk with various clubs and after careful consideration they decided to enter the arrangement with Venlo.
He is confident that the style of football Venlo play will help West Ham’s players to develop their game in the Netherlands at a standard technical level.
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Speaking to the club’s official website, the academy head said: “It's something we have looked at for 12 months. We have been to Slovakia, France and Holland.
“We have met with different clubs and we chose Venlo in the end after doing our homework and looking at the environment and what the staff are like.
“We managed to get the link after I went over to Holland and met the club's director to form a football partnership. We feel the high technical game which they play could suit our players.”
Venlo are currently fifth in the Eerste Divisie on 16 points and will face Telstar on Friday in a league encounter at De Koel.
