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West Ham now have four goalkeepers signed up to contracts for the upcoming season in east London and although two of them are youngsters, is it a sign of the direction the club wants to go in?

The Hammers secured the signing of Lukasz Fabianski from Swansea on an undisclosed fee ten days ago to join Adrian and Nathan Trott on the books of the club, with Trott the U23s number one but extremely highly-rated within the club.

Now, you can add 18-year-old Jospeh Anang to the list of stopper at the club as he has put pen to paper on his first professional contract in east London, inking a three-year contract. He has joined up with the first team for their training camp in Switzerland, working with new keeper coach Xavi Valero.

Anang has been a regular around the first team squad since signing as a scholar in 2017, training with the Premier League players alongside Adrian and Joe Hart last season as he waited for international clearance to make his debut.

The keeper has lofty ambitions but he isn't running before he is walking. However, he wants to take the number one spot in Terry Westley's U23 side from Trott.

Trott is expected to be around the first team more this upcoming season under Manuel Pellegrini, who has been given a dossier on all the young talents Westley has at his disposal and the new manager has also said he wants to see more U23 players come through to the first team while he is in charge in east London.

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

The other school of thought could be to send Trott out on loan to the Championship or League One to gain some experience, with Anang taking the gloves for the U23s in the interim. That will see Adrian remain to compete with Fabianski for the starting berth at the London Stadium.

Anang told the West Ham official website: “Next year, my aims are to be playing for the club’s U23s but there are great goalkeepers already at this Club, so it depends on how hard I work and that I can show people I’ll continue to improve as a goalkeeper.

"In the future, of course, the long-term ambition is to become a first team player here but I have to start from where I am now, keep working hard every day and hopefully those aims will one day be achieved."

Following the arrival of Fabianski, the pressure has already upped on Adrian, who has just one season left on his current deal and hasn't exactly ruled out potentially leaving the club. When he reports back for pre-season training on Monday, no doubt the Spaniard's future might become a bit clearer.

With Anang potentially challenging for the U23s number one jersey and how well thought of Trott is at the club, is a Possible promotion to number two for the first team on the cards for the England youngster? You can't rule it out as it seems like the club won't be buying another goalkeeper this summer unless a great deal is out there.

(Image: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) (Image: Simon Hofmann - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Trott is expected to fly out to Switzerland for the upcoming training camp with the first team next week, alongside other youngsters Nathan Holland, Toni Martinez, Martin Samuelsen and Vashon Neufville in a bid to impress Pellegrini.

With Adrian seemingly no close to resolving his future at the club, Anang's signing may well signal a sign of where the Hammers will be going with their goalkeepers in the near future. Maybe not this season (unless Adrian does depart) but in the years after, with Trott likely to get a promotion at some stage to a full first team member, the path is clear for Ghanaian Anang to take the gloves at Chadwell Heath.

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