West Ham fullback Ryan Fredericks feels his road to the Premier League will become more common.

After three fine seasons at Fulham, climaxing in a Championship Play-Off final win in May, the right-back earned a move to West Ham and the Premier League.

“I think it's a common route now," he told whufc.com. “It's very rare, especially at some of the top clubs in England, that you're going to go from playing Under-18 football and then you're going to be trusted to go straight into the first team at a Premier League club.

“It gives you good experience and there are a lot of good players at the lower levels. We've seen from players from the Championship and even League One stepping up to the Premier League and doing well.

“That should really spur some of the young lads on to go out and get games and experience, as men's football is very different from Under-18 and Under-23 football and there some things you can only learn by playing men's football."