Portsmouth trialist Pierre Ekwah is said to be of interest to West Ham United, with the News reporting that the Chelsea youth player will soon be having a trial with the Hammers in the near future. 

The French midfielder has been on the books at Stamford Bridge since the summer of 2018 after moving to England from Nantes in his homeland and has since risen through the youth ranks with the Blues.

However it appears that his future has been thrown into doubt in West London, with the Premier League outfit having allowed the 19-year-old to go on trial with Pompey in the last few months as his current contract continues to tick down towards expiry.

Now it also appears that Chelsea's London neighbours, West Ham are also keen to run the rule over the player, with the ExWHUemployee telling the West Ham Way Podcast the following:

"Next week we’re going to be taking on trial someone from Chelsea’s under-19s. He’s a French player and he’s called Pierre Ekwah Elimby.

"He’s going to be on trial from Chelsea. It shows that we’re trying to pick up some young bargains from elsewhere to improve the academy.

"The academy has been quite underachieving this year I would say. So it looks like we could do with some of these young players coming in."

Former Pompey boss Kenny Jackett previously ran the rule over Ekwah in the week leading up to his sacking at Fratton Park, with Manchester United defender Max Taylor also having been taken on trial.

The Verdict 

This could be yet another young player that Pompey lose to another club, with the chance to stay in London sure to be tough for Ekwah to turn down if an offer is forthcoming from the Hammers.

It is good that Portsmouth are casting their net wide in search of the best young talent available in the country and taking players on trial from other clubs has always traditionally been a hazardous approach.

There's no guarantee that the Chelsea youngster will choose West Ham over Pompey, however the potential path to the Premier League is sure to be a big pull that the South Coast club would find hard to compete with.

All in all only time will tell on this one, but I would say it is far from over as Pompey would in theory be able to offer a quicker route to first team football than the top flight side.