JUNIOR Stanislas has set his sights on becoming the complete footballer at West Ham United.

The young winger has been forced to settle for a place on the bench in recent weeks, largely due to the return of Jack Collison and Valon Behrami from injury.

He was brought on as a second-half substitute by Gianfranco Zola against Everton on Sunday and made a quick impact, his pace seeing him get in behind the Toffees’ defence before he clipped the ball towards goal, with defender Tony Hibbert finishing the job by inadvertently slamming it into the net for him.

His lively cameo appearance will be food for thought for Zola, who will have seen a distinct lack of width in his side’s formation before Stanislas’ introduction.

However, far from being content with picking up his pay packet after the odd half an hour appearance, the 19-year-old is determined to become a key figure in what is rapidly becoming a survival campaign for the Hammers.

“I have just been trying so hard to perform on the training pitch and for someone of my age, looking to learn and get better I think that is really important and hopefully it will be enough to catch his (Zola’s) eye and to get some games under my belt,” said Stanislas.

“I just want to keep improving and work on all aspects of my game, not just crossing and beating men, as I want to become a better all-round footballer. I just want to try and get in the team regularly.”

There was a time at the beginning of this season when that was the case, with the youngster making the jump from the fringes of the squad to one of the focal points of West Ham’s attack.

But his fast ascension through the ranks has been curtailed somewhat by the presence of Collison and Behrami, who have both recently shrugged off injuries.

Stanislas has no complaints, though, and he was keen to take the positives from an encouraging display against Everton, when the Hammers went down 2-1 despite applying some heavy pressure and missing several good chances in the second half.

“It was a good experience for me. Obviously I want to be playing all the time, but I am still young, I cannot complain that I was out of the team, but coming on today was really good for me,” he added.

He remains in contention for a place in Stuart Pearce’s England U21s team for their UEFA Championship qualifier against Portugal at Wembley on Saturday.

“I will hopefully be able to play at Wembley for the U21s, which is something obviously to get very excited about.”

He added: “It will be a great experience to play there and a great honour for me to do so for England.”

Stanislas will hope another impressive outing can take him one step higher in Zola’s estimations.