West Ham boss David Moyes has urged Flynn Downes to be patient.
The midfielder is battling for minutes.
But Moyes says: "Flynn Downes played really well for us against Liverpool and Manchester United in the earlier Premier League games this season.
"The level of competition has [made things hard for] Flynn. We brought in Lucas Paquet, who is proving to be more of a deep-lying midfielder than a ten, which we brought Flynn in to give us cover there for Tom Souek, Declan Rice and Manuel Lanzini.
"Flynn has done well, I think he's improving. I don't know how many players I've brought up from the Championship, but let me tell you it is a lot over the years people like Joleon Lescott, Leighton Baines, Tim Cahill, you can go on, and quite often they don't hit the ground running.
"Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka didn't play for me for six months, near enough, when I was at Everton. We brought them out of the Championship and they went on to be full England internationals.
"Sometimes they have to be patient, wait their time, wait for their opportunities and hopefully Flynn comes under that category and goes on to be a top player."