Rio Ferdinand

Ferdinand joined West ham as a junior and made his first appearance for them at the age of 17. Ferdinand made his international debut for England against Cameroon in November 1997, at the age of 19. Despite making Glenn Hoddles squad for the 1998 world cup he didn’t feature in any matches. Due to his spectacular defensive displays for West Ham, it earned him a move to Leeds United for £18 million in November 2000. Ferdinand was England’s first choice centre back during the 2002 world cup finals. Ferdinand’s excellent performance in the 2002 world cup finals earned him a transfer to Manchester United for a whopping £30 million which remains the largest ever fee paid to a defender. He helped Man United to win the premiership in the 2002/03 season and the F.A cup for the 2003/04 season.

Frank Lampard

Lampard was a key member of a young talented first team of west Ham, which included, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole and Michael Carrick. He played well for West Ham during the 99- 2000 season, scoring a further 7 goals and dominated the midfield in spectacular fashion. His last season at West Ham was the 2000 – 2001, another fine term, scoring another 7 goals, he was now seen as one of the premierships’ hottest properties.
In total, Lampard made 187 appearances and scored 39 goals in all tournaments for West Ham, in his 6 successful years at the club.

Jermain Defoe

Defoe developed his skill and great ball control while coming through the ranks in the West Ham set up. After four emphatic years playing for West ham, Defoe moved to Spurs for £7 million and the English striker became an immediate success at Tottenham. Despite Defoe missing a huge part of the 2004/05 season with injury, he was still able to score an impressive 22 goals during the 2004-05 campaign, with 13 of them being scored in the premiership.