WEST Ham manager Alan Curbishley has paid tribute to Jack Collison, the latest Gwent ace to make his mark in the Premiership.

The production line of players in these parts has already seen the likes of James Collins (Newport), Danny Gabbidon (Cwmbran) and new Tottenham signing Chris Gunter (Newport) join the ranks of Europe's elite league and now 19-year old Collison seems to have made the grade.

The Watford born youngster is a Wales U21 cap thanks to his Gwent grandfather - a native of Bedwellty - and he's impressed as part of the Hammers' famous academy and become reserve team skipper.

However, on New Year's Day, Collison finally got a chance in the first team in front of 60,000 supporters at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.

The combative central midfielder replaced the injured Fredrik Llungberg on 37 minutes and did well enough to be picked out for praise by Curbishley.

He explained: "Jack came on in a really difficult situation.

"We were behind (2-0), away at Arsenal but he acquitted himself very well indeed.

"He is a young boy who went to the Emirates and really enjoyed himself, he made his debut and we're all thrilled for him."

Collison was encouraged to play for the Principality by team-mate Craig Bellamy and has already attracted praise from Wales U21 boss Brian Flynn.

"We have seven chances of youngsters being eligible for Wales," said Flynn, following Collison's call-up via the grandparent rule.

"Where they are born, their parents and both sets of grandparents.

"It's something I do on my travels as part of my job - I ask clubs if they have any Welsh-qualified players.

"They normally say no straight away, but we ask them to do a bit of research to give these lads a chance of playing international football. You can only ask the question and we've had some good results so far.

"Collison is one of those - he's Premiership class. He's 6ft 1in, been playing very well and, when you look at the calibre of players that have come out of West Ham, it says everything you need to know about the lad."

The Hammers academy - made famous by World Cup winners Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters - has produced some fine players in the past decade, including England regulars Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard.

One of the more recent graduates, midfielder Mark Noble, has also tipped Collison for bigger things.

"I was made up to see Jack get his debut at the Emirates," he said.

"He will never forget it and hopefully can go from strength to strength."