After seeing your most exciting young prospect enjoy a successful loan spell at another club, most club’s would welcome their return with open arms. But no, not West Ham.
Having reportedly accepted an offer of £12m for Grady Diangana from West Brom, West Ham fans are understandably in uproar as to why they would sell him at all, never mind at such a low price.
If the Diangana news is true, that's genuinely the last straw for me. Even by their standards, this is beyond stupid.
— Matt Bourne (@mattbourne93) September 2, 2020
The 22-year-old, who netted eight goals in 23 starts for the Baggies last season, has so far in pre-season looked an exciting addition to David Moyes’ attack, as he looks to have added a certain maturity to his game, whilst still possessing the obvious flair that was on show during his debut season in east London.
It is fair to say that if the season started today, a lot of West Ham fans would be eager to see Diangana in the starting line-up ahead of the likes of Felipe Anderson and Manuel Lanzini, not only due to the latter pair’s decline in form but mainly because of the threat that he offers in terms of hurting the opposition’s back-line.
It would make little sense to sell Diangana to West Brom, the club that benefitted from his talents in their promotion-winning season for minimal outlay, for such a shallow return.
The only advantage to the sale of the England U21 international would be the potential re-investment in other, perhaps weaker, areas of the pitch, such as left-back. But even that is not a given, due to the position being so heavily neglected over recent years despite the obvious hole that it leaves in West Ham’s defence.
Gold, Sullivan and Brady selling Diangana would by no means be their worst crime since taking over the club, but it yet again proves that they have no business being in such a privileged position, and it would certainly hammer another nail in their ever-sinking coffin.