Other than the obvious example of Declan Rice, West Ham have struggled to progress players from their academy into the first team in recent seasons.

However, Ben Johnson has shown over the last few years that he can now be considered a strong member of David Moyes' squad at the London Stadium, with his market valuation continuing to soar.

How much is Ben Johnson worth now?

Since making his Premier League debut in the 2018/19 season, Johnson has gone on to make 79 appearances in total for the first team at West Ham, contributing two goals and one assist.

While he has featured mainly as a right-back, he has demonstrated impressive versatility in his career thus far, appearing in nearly every defensive and midfield position, so he is clearly a valued member of Moyes' squad.

This season has seen the 23-year-old make 12 appearances in the Premier League, earning a 6.49 rating from WhoScored for his performances.

This ranks him just behind Vladimir Coufal (6.53) and ahead of Thilo Kehrer (6.36) in West Ham's squad, so it seems clear that the Englishman can be relied upon to be a big part of the Hammers' defence in the future.

The youngster would earn plenty of praise from former goalkeeper Paul Robinson after he replaced Coufal in West Ham's starting side back in 2021.

Robinson said: “It’s incredible because Coufal has been one of West Ham’s best players over the past 18 months.

“If you were Ben Johnson, you would have thought your only chance to play would be when Coufal was injured.

“But, Johnson’s performances have been of such merit that he deserves to be in the team. There is no doubt about that in my eyes. He has been absolutely brilliant since he has come in."

There is little doubt that Johnson can be a big part of West Ham's future if they can tie him down to a longer contract at the London Stadium, as his current deal is set to expire at the end of next season.

However, if he were to leave, the Hammers would be safe in the knowledge that he would command a sizeable fee, as his market value has shot up to €12m (£10.5m) according to Transfermarkt.

This represents a 1100% increase on the €1m (£876k) he was valued at back in 2020 when he first broke into West Ham's team, a testament to his progression under Moyes.

Hopefully, for the Hammers, fellow academy players can look at Johnson's journey into the first team and follow suit in the coming years, with the club undoubtedly striking gold with his marvellous development.