Perhaps no Bermudian was prouder when Nathan Trott signed with West Ham United last week than Clyde Best.

The teenage goalkeeper signed off on a deal that will keep him at the East London club at least until June 2018 after impressing the Barclays Premier League side’s coaching staff during trials last summer.

Best, who helped break down the colour barrier during his heyday as at Upton Park in the Seventies, is delighted to see another Bermudian receive such an opportunity.

The former striker hopes Trott will make the most of his stint at the club where Best scored 58 goals in 218 appearances playing alongside the legendary Bobby Moore, who captained England to World Cup glory in 1966.

“He could not have chosen a better club,” Best said. “West Ham are a good club and a family club where everybody knows everybody from the equipment person to the trainers all the way up.”

Incidentally, Trott was signed by West Ham at the age of 17, the same age Best was when he was recruited by the club in 1969.

Trott, who also had trials with West Ham’s London rivals Crystal Palace last summer, joins compatriot Djair Parfitt-Williams who has featured twice for the club’s first team against Lusitanos of Andorra in the Europa League qualifiers last July, and was an unused substitute away to Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League on Boxing Day.

“With another Bermudian there [Parfitt-Williams] it’s probably going to be easier for him [Trott],” Best said. “They are probably playing in the same development team and so it’s a good fit for him and I just hope he does very well.”

Even though he parted ways with West Ham in 1976, to this day Best keeps very close tabs on his former team, who are riding high in the Premier League under Slaven Bilic, their Croatian manager.

Bilic made 49 appearance for West Ham as a defender in the mid-nineties.

“We are punching above our weight right now,” Best said. “We have some good players and injured players that are not playing.

“We have Payet back and he’ll be okay, he’s a fantastic player. We also have Andy Carroll who, if he ever gets fully fit, gives us a different dimension. Then we have Lanzini who should be back pretty soon and Sakho, who plays up front, who should also be back. We have some decent firepower and we proved that on Saturday against Manchester City.”

Best believes there are even bigger things in store for West Ham’s current crop of players.

“The club has a bright future and moving into the new stadium makes it all the more better,” he said, alluding to West Ham’s pending move from Upton Park to the Olympic Stadium.

“I’m sad to see us leaving [Upton Park] because it’s a historic place we are all going to miss. But, from a club point of view and a financial point of view it’s a good thing.

“You have to go along with the times and going there and increasing our crowd capacity is going to give us more revenue, which is a good thing.”