He could play could Dean Ashton, there is absolutely no question about that.

And it was a really sad moment when the centre-forward was forced to retire from professional football in December 2009 at the age of 26.

Ashton just never recovered from the serious ankle injury that he suffered on international duty with England in August 2006.

The striker did manage 11 goals in 35 appearances for West Ham during the 2007-08 campaign, but managed just five appearances in the first half of the 2008-09 season before being forced to hang up his boots far too soon.

Having scored 74 times in 177 appearances for Crewe Alexandra, Ashton moved to Norwich City in 2005, and scored 18 times for the Canaries ahead of his transfer to West Ham in January 2006.

[brid autoplay="true" video="255853" player="12034" title="Watch West Ham's opening fixtures for the 201819 Premier League season"]

The now 34-year-old would have scored plenty of goals for West Ham but for injury, and it would be fair to say that the London club's supporters still miss the former England international.

Indeed, a selection of the best Twitter reaction can be seen below:

[ad_pod ]