With Michael Olise and Ebere Eze impressing in red and blue, Hodgson was asked whether the youngsters could match the exploits of Wilfried Zaha.
“I do actually, I do,” he said in his pre-West Ham press conference. “I don’t know if I was Eze or Olise that I would be thanking you for suggesting it, and I want to make it clear that it is you suggesting it!
“I do believe that those two players, if they continue to progress as they have done, if they continue to milk their skills and ability as they have done so far, why can’t they go on to have the sort of career that Wilf has had?
“But it is setting the bar high. In every football club you can name someone from the past who has been an absolute icon at the club, and say: ‘Can this next player be as good as him?’ You are putting a lot of pressure on him, and you are doing comparisons which I'm not keen on.
“Each era has its own players – we are even talking about two players in the same era now. But all the time you hear: ‘Is X as good as [Roy] Keane when he was at Manchester United? Is so and so going to be the new [Steven] Gerrard?’
“But I would think it would not be such a bad thing as a manager or coach to say to Ebs and Michael Olise: ‘Look, you have seen what Wilf has done at this club. Could that be something to aspire to?’
“I would like to think that they would say: ‘Yep, we will aspire to that’.”
