West Ham United reaped the rewards from Premier League rivals Chelsea's decision to release Declan Rice at a young age, but they could be at risk of a similar misjudgement.
Rice's talents were clear to see in West Ham's academy, and it was not long before he was making his debut for the club at the age of 18.
After 245 appearances for the Irons, however, culminating in last month's Europa Conference League triumph, his time at the club is set to come to an end when he joins Arsenal in a £105m transfer.
Considering what West Ham got out of Rice, plus the nine-figure windfall that his sale brings to the club, it is fair to say Chelsea will be left kicking themselves.
But could it be West Ham who are left questioning what could have been after releasing Armstrong Oko-Flex?
According to ExWHUEmployee, ambitious Championship side Sunderland have already taken the young winger on trial with a view to adding him to their squad.
Could West Ham regret letting Armstrong Oko-Flex depart?
Football is full of examples of players not cutting it at one club, only to then become a major hit at another – Rice being just one of them. For every instance of that happening, there are hundreds more where the club proved right in letting a player leave.
West Ham will certainly be hoping the latter is true in the case of Oko-Flex, who made just one senior appearance for the East London side, coming in a Europa League tie against Viborg at the start of last season.
Much was expected of the Republic of Ireland U21 international after he scored a hat-trick against Arsenal on his Premier League 2 debut soon after joining from Celtic, for whom he featured four times in the first team.
Oko-Flex was loaned to Swansea last season to gain experience, but he was recalled in January after making 13 appearances – all but one of those as a substitute.
Still, that was enough time on the field to give an indication of what the Irishman is all about, and his performances see him ranked favourably by FBref in their player comparison model.
Indeed, based purely on statistics, some top players in the Premier League are comparable to Oko-Flex, with Mason Mount of Chelsea and Alexis Mac Allister two names in particular.
The Dublin-born attacker, who also spent some time in Arsenal's academy ranks, averaged 0.30 shots on target last season, which compares to 0.49 for Mount, while the pair played 38.2 and 38.6 live passes per 90 minutes respectively – passes that are not from set-pieces.
They also tackle at a similar rate (1.82 per 90 minutes for Oko-Flex v 1.80 for Mount) and also average a similar number of touches (54.2 v 53).
Oko-Flex is far from being on Mount's level just yet, of course, but the early signs are positive enough, with Sunderland clearly seeing enough potential to give him a chance.
As he said during his time on loan with Swansea, Oko-Flex – on a reported £5.5k a week during his time at the London Stadium – is "hungry to play" and wants to be able to "make an impression" by featuring regularly.
Much like Rice before him, he will now get the chance to do that elsewhere. West Ham's loss could well be Sunderland's gain.
