West Ham United boss Gianfranco Zola insists his young players can develop to match the success of Harry Redknapp's generation of Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand.

Zola told whufc.com: "We have players with the potential to be as good as the others. Don't forget that when Frank, Joe Cole and Carrick started they were playing for West Ham. They were more or less the same as these guys. They were young players who were very good but nobody knew they would become champions like they are now.

"You could tell they were potentially good players but you don't know. Now is the same situation. The players can potentially be top players but it is down to them to develop. They are just starting. This is just the beginning for them and they will have to put in a lot of work over the next few years and that will determine whether they will be champions or not. It's as simple as that.

"I haven't got a magical ball where I can see into the future but I would like to say that they can achieve as much as they want to. I built up my career always on the belief that it's down to how hard I work to achieve what I want to achieve. If they work, they can be whatever they want. That's what I tell them every day. You get what you work for, it's as simple as that."