Nathan Trott may be 3,500 miles from the remote island where he grew up, but the goalkeeper is feeling very much at home at West Ham United.
Trott was born and raised on Bermuda, the British Overseas Territory situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, 650 miles from the east coast of the United States of America.
The 23-year-old left as a schoolboy to pursue his dream of becoming a professional football player in Europe, first with Spanish club Valencia and, since 2016, with West Ham.
Since arriving in east London, Trott has developed from an inexperienced rookie stopper – he switched from being an outfield player at the age of 15 – into a confident young goalkeeper with 50 senior appearances to his name, international recognition and a bright future ahead of him.
The tall, amiable Trott has put pen to paper on a contract extension until the summer of 2024, with a further two-year option, and has now set his sights on adding to the Hammers debut he made in an FA Cup fourth-round win over Doncaster Rovers in January 2021.
Nathan, congratulations on the contract extension. How do you feel after committing your future to West Ham United?
“It’s been very positive vibes since I've been back and, seeing how the team's been performing over the last two or three years, I think it's something I've always wanted to be a part of and I'm really happy that the Club value me and have invested time in me to hopefully push me in the team in the future.”
You have been here for six years, so presumably you feel at home here?
“I came in at 16 and I'm going on 24 next season, so it's a big part of my life and somewhere that I call home now. It's good for me to be a part of it and it’s like a big family for me. Being here so long just keeps me pushing to want to strive and help the team out, which is the same goal I’ve had since I signed the first day.”
You made your first-team debut in January 2021 and were named in a number of Premier League matchday squads at the end of the 2020/21 season, then went out on loan to French Ligue 2 club Nancy last term and played over 20 times, so what is the next step in your career?
“For me, the next step will just try be to and impress as much as I can. We've got Łukasz [Fabiański], Alphonse [Areola] and Darren [Randolph] here as well, so I'm just going to try and push them as much as I can. I’m at that age now when I've got a lot more experience and appearances under my belt, so I feel like I'm a lot more mature than I was and I feel like I've gotten everything I need to know. I think the next step for me is to just try and impress as much as I can in the pre-season games and hopefully catch the manager’s eye.”
You turn 24 in November, but that is still young for a goalkeeper so you have plenty of time to continue improving and developing, don’t you?
“I try not to think about age too much. I just think, at this time, for goalkeepers it’s a long career and 23/24 is very young for a goalkeeper. For me, I just try and not even think about the age at this point, and just try and show what I can do and my ability and see where it can take me.”
You mentioned the other goalkeepers in the squad, all of whom are internationals, and of course you are also working under our experienced goalkeeper coach Xavi Valero, so this is a great place to learn your trade, isn’t it?
“They've got a lot of experience. Xavi has worked at many top clubs and Łukasz has been playing in the Premier League for as long as I can remember and he's one of the most-experienced keepers in the league and I can only learn from them. They've helped me a lot throughout the years and I can only take what they can teach me and just try and apply it to my game.”
Your loan at Nancy ended in relegation and you were in and out of the team, so how do you reflect on it?
“I think, although it was it probably the season we wanted as a team, for me I probably learned more that way as it's a lot more pressure dealing with the team that's struggling and there were loads of changes going on, so it kind of sharpened me mentally. I said to myself ‘If I could deal with the season like that, that's probably another learning curve for me get know it's not always going to be about winning, it's just going to be about learning different things and see what I can take and learn from those experiences and then bring it back here.”
Finally, you were able to return home to Bermuda for a three-week visit this summer and caught up with old friends and family. How was that?
“For me, it was refreshing because since I've signed here, normally I get maybe one or two weeks off because I was playing for England as well so I’d have a tournament in the summer, so this was probably the first time I actually got to go and actually enjoy a full summer of three or four weeks and just see family and friends and catch up with people so I thought it was something that I really needed. It was amazing to see everyone and have them say they are proud of me – it really gave me the energy and motivation to get back here and start working again.”
