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Toni Martinez is doing his damned best to tell Slaven Bilic to give him a chance in the West Ham first team - again.

The 20-year-old Spaniard notched a fine treble for the Hammers U23s in their comfortable 4-2 win over Manchester United at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

That took him on to eight goals for the season, added to 14 in the last campaign since he joined the club from Valencia last summer.

What more can he do to get a look in? Judging on his performance at the London Stadium, not very much. His first goal was an instinctive finish and the other two were laid on a plate for him, but you still have to put them away. It's what he's paid to d and Martinez held up his end of the bargain.

The argument will be that playing against a Premier League defence is a bit different than a PL2 one. Well, fair enough but how are we supposed to find out if he can hold his own if he doesn't get the chance?

Martinez was given a first team squad number this season and filmed his funny little walk up things for Sky Sports, which led us to think maybe Bilic will give him a shot.

(Image: West Ham United FC/West Ham United via Getty Images)

Martinez impressed in pre-season too, where he was a regular for the Hammers on their jaunts to Austria, Germany and Iceland. He particularly found form while in Germany with a couple of goals to his name.

And yet, he has been consigned to the Hammers U23s side so far this season and has seen the likes of other uber-talented youngster Declan Rice and Nathan Holland get Premier League minutes (in the formers case) and in the Carabao Cup.

Martinez is showing patience, just go on his social media channels and he preaches the ethic of hard work and patience paying off, and now could be his time.

Why?

Andy Carroll is suspended for the visit of Burnley in the Premier League to E20 this coming Friday night. While I am not advocating that Martinez should start the game against Chris Hughton's men, he should be in the squad.

If he's not brought on then fair enough, he has Diafra Sakho and Andre Ayew ahead of him to partner Javier Hernandez but Martinez offers that something different.

Martinez loves to play on the shoulder of the last man constantly, trying to angle runs then spin in behind (hopefully beating the offside trap) and bear down on goal. He's good with both feet, he is excellent in the air and if you give him a chance, he'll bury it.

After seeing some of his other U23 star mates get the call up into the first team, Martinez has had to bide his time but surely, surely, it is going to come. Bilic can only keep ignoring the Spaniards goals for so long.

Should Martinez be given a chance in the first team? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.