Roshan Nayak

Freddie Potts Carries the Same Nepo Baby Tag That Once Haunted Frank Lampard at West Ham

Frank Lampard, Freddie Potts, West Ham United

Freddie Potts, the 22 year-old West Ham United’s midfielder took everyone by surprise, specifically the Hammers’ fans, with his performance against Newcastle United last weekend. It was his first ever start for the Hammers which saw West Ham comfortably beat Newcastle United, 3-1. He went on to play the full game for 90+ minutes and was also named the Player Of The Match (POTM).

Although, his official debut had come against their local London rivals, Chelsea at the London Stadium in August. He came on from the bench replacing the French defender, Jean-Clair Todibo.

Freddie Potts joined West Ham’s academy when he was just 6 years old. For years, inside the West Ham circles, there were suspicions that Potts was only getting opportunities in the academy because of his surname. His father, Steve Potts, is a West Ham legend who made 399 appearances for the club over a 17 year spell and is presently part of the academy coaching hierarchy.

That tag followed him quietly through his academy and U-21 days.

But the issue with football is this: eventually, the pitch exposes the truth. And in Freddie’s situation, the truth is the complete opposite of “nepotism”.

His latest senior Premier League performance against the Magpies described exactly that. Suddenly, the West Ham fans recognised he isn’t just Steve Potts’s son — he’s a legitimate top future midfielder developing in real time. And that is exactly why the “reverse nepotism” comment was used, as can be seen above.

He was formerly accused of being there simply because of his surname, but now his performance has shown that the surname has become irrelevant. His talent has spoken louder than the nepotism remarks.

Freddie has a sibling too, Dan Potts, who surprisingly also played for West Ham and that was his sole appearance in January 2013. The ‘Potts’ family heritage has been at West Ham’s academy since a long time with Freddie and Dan’s father, Steve Potts being the first one to bring up that heritage.

This case also took the West Ham fans back in time a bit. They were comparing this case with that of Frank Lampard when he was West Ham’s academy player.

Lampard was also heckled by West Ham fans as a youngster because they felt his uncle, Harry Redknapp, who was also the manager of West Ham at the time, and his father, Frank Lampard Sr., who was the assistant coach of Redknapp himself, pushed him into the team. Although, he seldom played for the senior team and was snapped up by Chelsea at the age of 23 in 2001. And then, later, Lampard went on to become Chelsea’s record scorer and one of the best midfielders the Premier League had ever seen.

Back in the day, in 1996, Harry Redknapp was asked about why he let Scott Canham leave West Ham to keep his young nephew, Frank Lampard in the first team at that time and he had some straightforward answers to say:

He knew at that time itself that his nephew was going straight to the top and it was proven true.

Freddie Potts isn’t Lampard just yet, obviously. But the trajectory of his path is incredibly similar.

The family name was used against him in the beginning but now it doesn’t matter. Because Freddie Potts is proving himself purely through performances.

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