Having been at West Ham United since he was six-years-old, Freddie Potts signed his first professional contract with the Club in June 2021.
Barking born and raised, the Academy of Football prospect needed just one year of his initial scholarship deal to convince his coaches to commit his long-term future to the Club until the summer of 2024.
During the 2020/21 campaign, Potts – a first-year scholar – featured on 21 occasions for Kevin Keen’s U18s before later also becoming a regular for Dmitri Halajko’s U23s.
Son of two-time Hammer of the Year and current U23s coach Steve, and brother to former Hammer and current Luton Town left-back Dan, Freddie made seven consecutive U23s starts from early March 2021, scoring his first Premier League 2 goal against Leicester.
A calming, conscientious and composed influence in midfield, the teenager also earned widespread praise for how he acquitted himself on the right-hand side of a back three.
The midfielder is well aware of the precedent his name carries in east London, and having joined the Academy of Football at such a young age himself, has witnessed first-hand those closest to him reaching such heights.
Yet while the temptation might be to draw parallels with his lengthy familial association with the Club, Potts is treading his own path as a West Ham United player, citing the journey of Declan Rice as one he would like to follow.
And the midfielder took his next step to emulating Rice when he made his first-team debut, aged 18 years two months and 27 days, as a late substitute in the 1-0 UEFA Europa League Group H defeat by GNK Dinamo Zagreb at London Stadium on 9 December 2021.
A couple of small injuries would hamper the second half of the 2021/22 season for Potts, but the young midfielder would go on to make 18 outings in all competitions for the U23s as he continued his development under Mark Robson.
Potts continued to be a consistent figure for the U21s in the 2022/23 season, making 30 appearances in all competitions and scoring one goal, which came in the 2-1 Papa Johns Trophy group stage win against Walsall in October 2022.
The midfielder also found himself called upon for the first team in the UEFA Europa Conference League. Potts earned run-outs from the bench in the Group B away win at FCSB and in the round of 16 second leg victory versus AEK Larnaca, while also featuring on the bench on five other occasions.