After making his breakthrough into first-team action last season, what next for Grady Diangana?
The winger joined the West Ham academy in 2010 at 12-years-old, originally as a striker. he began playing as an attacking midfielder at 15 and made his debut for the under 18’s in February 2014, then going onto make his debut in January 2015 for the Premier league 2 side.
He signed his first professional contract with the club on 14 May 2016. He then signed a two-year contract with the club in June 2018. Diangana is highly rated by the club and signed a six year deal which keeps him at the club until 2025.
He made his professional debut for the club in the EFL cup 8-0 demolishing of Macclesfield in which he scored twice and played a full 90 minutes at London Stadium.
Diangana then went on to make his first team Premier League debut three days later, coming on as a substitute for Felipe Anderson, against Manchester United. He made 22 appearances for the club last season, his last being against Southampton on May 5th, coming on as a 68th minute sub.
The question is, is Diangana good enough for next season or should we loan him out?
He’s highly rated and when he’s played he has done a fairly good job but, in my opinion, there’s a few other senior members ahead of him.
With plenty of experienced players at the club currently vying for the winger positions, I can’t see Manuel Pellegrini dropping one of them to put the youngster in. I feel he should be loaned out to gain first team experience, he will only be restricted to cup game performances and for someone so highly rated he needs to gain experience.
Ideally, he would go to a Championship or League One side and play most weeks if not every week.
By Caulay Howell (@Caulay__)
[Featured image from whufc.com]