The decision to loan Grady Diangana out for the season seemed like a risky one on the surface when the deal was announced in the summer, yet here were are in late October, and the youngster is thriving with West Brom.
The England youth international has been a vital part of Slaven Bilic’s Baggies side that currently sit top of the Championship table, with stats from Tranfermarkt showing that Diangana has managed four goals and three assists for West Brom in the league, yet there are whispers that the 21-year-old’s time in the English second-division could come to an end sooner rather than later.
Claret and Hugh report that there is a growing possibility that Diangana could be recalled by Manuel Pellegrini in the January transfer window after such an impressive start to life in the Championship.
The West Ham manager is a fan of the 21-year-old, with the Chilean boss comparing Diangana to Villarreal midfielder Santi Cazorla in 2018 via The Mirror, yet a recall for the youngster might be a poor move for the Premier League side.
Diangana is enjoying a solid spell of first-team football at West Brom, with stats from Transfermarkt showing that the prospect has started every league game for the Championship side since joining on-loan, and realistically, this amount of playing time won’t be achieved at West Ham just yet.
Whilst it is easy to get caught up in the Diangana hype this season, it is also easier to forget that this is the youngster’s first real run of playing professional football, and to fast-track him into a Premier League side might be too early for the 21-year-old.
There is no doubt that Diangana can return from this loan-spell at West Brom and assert himself as a first-team player, but that prospect might be better for next season, not for the January transfer window where the attacker is unlikely to break into Pellegrini’s XI.
