West Ham will be champing at the bit for the start of the Premier League season. The Hammers are looking strong and will be keen to challenge in the top half of the table. However, they could be set to do that without Grady Diangana as the winger is on the verge of going out on-loan.
The young winger enjoyed his breakthrough season at The London Stadium last season, making 17 Premier League appearances and grabbing one assist. Now, though, according to The Sunday People, via HITC, that the winger could be loaned out this season.
With the likes of Andriy Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson, Pablo Fornals, Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini occupying the attacking midfield areas, giving Diangana a loan spell to the Championship makes perfect sense, especially as the Hammers have clubs looking to take him.
According to TEAMtalk, a trio of Championship clubs are looking at taking Diangana off of Manuel Pellegrini’s hands for the 2019/20 season. Those clubs are the promotion pushing Middlesbrough and Derby, with Blackburn also in the hunt for the impressive winger.
Whether or not Diangana leaves on-loan or stays at the club this season, the winger will remain a West Ham player in the long run. It was only back in January that he signed a new deal with the club, whufc.com, and Pellegrini obviously sees something in the 21-year-old.
However, staying at the club next season and playing intermittently is not going to do much for his development, whereas dropping down a league and becoming a key player in a side that are winning games at the top end of the Championship looks to be a much smarter move.
The level of the Championship is a touch below that of the Premier League, and it should be up to Diangana to make the decision, but ultimately the only way for the exciting winger to improve and add goals to his game is to be playing consistent football, something he can certainly do on-loan.
