Young West Ham shotstopper Finlay Herrick has pulled out of the England U20 squad due to injury.

It’s unclear how bad the injury is, but with his injury, combined with Alphonse Areola’s injury, which has now kept him out for a lot longer than expected, leaves us without a recognised back-up to Mads Hermansen.

I wouldn’t quite call this an injury crisis, but what happens if Mads Hermansen gets injured too?

Luckily, the Dane has a very decent injury record; he has missed 26 matches with injury so far in his football career. So, hopefully he doesn’t suffer one for us, especially while Areola and Herrick are out.

But what would happen if Hermansen got injured? Who would start? Or, if not, who will be on the bench vs QPR in a couple of weeks if neither Herrick nor Areola return?

Well, it’s between two goalkeepers: Finley Hooper or Lanre Awesu!

Eighteen-year-old Hooper has made four appearances for the Hammers U21s this season: three in Premier League 2 and one in the National League Cup.

Awesu, also eighteen, has also played four times, but in four different competitions. Once each in the Premier League 2, Premier League International Cup, National League Cup, and the Premier League Cup.

This suggests U21 coach Mark Robson rates both of them highly and wants to share the minutes between them.

However, Hooper has played the majority of the PL2 matches, so maybe he is slightly favoured by Robson?

Anyway, it isn’t up to Robson. A chance for both of them has opened up with Hermansen away on international duty, however Hooper has also been called up to the England U19s.

Some reports have suggested that Awesu has already been called up to first team training my Nuno Espírito Santo.

West Ham are also expected to play a behind-closed-doors friendly during the break, so it will be interesting to see who will play from the start as Awesu is the only logical option.

We’re unaware how long Herrick will be injured for, or when Areola is due back to fitness.

But it could end up being a positive, there is a big opportunity for a young goalkeeper to impress Nuno Espírito Santo, Awesu especially.