Should West Ham recall Grady Diangana from loan?

Grady Diangana has enjoyed his loan spell at Slaven Bilic‘s youthful West Brom side so far this season. Diangana’s positive performances have led to Manuel Pellegrini wondering whether he should recall him in January or let him stay at West Brom for the remainder of the season.

The young Englishman has mostly played at right-wing for West Brom and has made 12 appearances, scoring 4 goals and providing 3 assists which is very promising. West Brom are currently 2 points clear at the top of the Championship so Bilic will be looking to keep hold of Diangana for the rest of the season or possibly even longer putting off West Ham if possible.

Diangana is still only 21 and thus was sent to the Championship this summer as it is a tried and tested pool of growth for British youngsters. Last season, Harry Wilson, Mason Mount, Reece James, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham went on loan to Championship clubs from Premier League teams as they couldn’t break into Premier League starting squads.

Each of them thrived in the Championship and have looked even better this season in the Premier League, for example, Tammy Abraham has scored 8 goals for third-place Chelsea and Harry Wilson has been starting every week for Bournemouth.

Diangana has shown the same amount of quality in the Championship this year as these players showed last year which permeates a positive future in the Premier League for Diangana at West Ham.

The youngster is a mazy dribbler who frightens full-backs with his speed and trickery, however last season Diangana often lacked the end product and was sometimes easily muscled off the ball. He has shown that he is one of the best youngsters in the Championship though so hopefully he can make the step up like so many before him.

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West Ham may be looking to recall Diangana in January as they lack pace and depth in wide areas. Andriy Yarmolenko has been excellent this season but sometimes lacks a bit of pace and with there being no clear back up for him (due to the injury to Michail Antonio) surely recalling Diangana for the second half of the season could be a wise move.

Diangana probably won’t go straight into the first team if he is recalled but he could prove to be a much-needed injection of pace in the last third of games. West Ham have missed this spark due to the injury of Michail Antonio and Diangana could add to his fear factor in the last half hour of crucial away games such as Bournemouth and Everton where the two were really missed.

As well as this Diangana could be a key asset in upcoming FA cup games which he would most likely start in. The Hammers certainly missed his pace and determination in the Carabao Cup game against Oxford and as fans, we don’t want any more cup humiliations, Diangana could ensure this.

On the other hand, it may be best to give Grady Diangana a whole season in the Championship so that he can improve as much as possible under Slaven Bilic’s well-trusted guidance. This would hopefully mean that he is ready to start in Premier League games next season and make a big impact.

This way he could become accustomed to the physicality of the professional game and improve his shooting and final ball as well as bulking up in the gym. Therefore it’s probably best to give Diangana more time in the Championship in the hope that West Ham will reap the rewards of this decision next season when he hopefully pushes on for a place in the starting 11.

On top of this Michail Antonio will have a massive impact on the squad when he comes back from injury and may take Diangana’s position as an attacking substitute which could limit his game time. Pellegrini will want him to get as much first-team football as possible so surely the Championship is his best bet for the meantime.