West Ham United boss Gianfranco Zola has major fears for the club's famed academy system.

The Times says the chance to nurture promising youngsters was paramount to Zola when he joined the club in 2008, but the Italian expressed concern last night that his job specification could change this summer.

The West Ham manager fears that the threat of relegation this year has led several figures at the club to believe that the future model should be based on having more experienced players in the squad.

"I like the work to be done that way, developing players, very much so," Zola said. "Whether in the future that policy will change I don't know, we will see. We will have to discuss later on this season. Right now we have more important matters."

Namely, staying up.