It was perhaps inevitable following the appointment of Slaven Bilic as West Bromwich Albion's new manager, that the Baggies would be 'linked' with loan deals involving players from West Ham United. So it comes as no shock to see Bilic wants to sign young Hammers Academy centre back Ajobola Alese on loan as he looks to put the finishing touches to his squad.
Various media outlets claim that the Baggies are interested in a loan deal for 18 year old centre back, but are being put off by the Hammers’ demand of an additional loan fee on top of his full wages. Nothing new or outrageous with that, it is common to ask for loan fees, what is more intriguing is the Baggies interest in signing young Hammers attacker Grady Diangana on loan.
21 year old Grady broke into the West Ham side under Manuel Pellegrini and has since clocked up 21 appearances in all competitions, he has also earned three England Under-20 caps. The return of Andriy Yarmolenko and the proliferation of 'advanced' midfielders Felipe Anderson, Michail Antonio, Robert Snodgrass and even Manu Lanzini, mean that Diangana has little chance of breaking into the side except as a sub.
The loan negotiations have currently stalled as a result of West Ham demanding a loan fee as well as the youngsters wages to be paid in full, it is true that Diangana is highly rated by Manuel Pellegrini, but could do with playing regularly. The final outcome will probably be decided if Hammers acquire another player, and need to move Diangana on in order to maintain the home grown player ratio.
Grady Diangana is definitely one for the future, and if he can go on loan, but with a recall clause, it could be a deal that benefits all parties concerned. The transfer business form the London Stadium is not quite done yet! - Ed
Comments
Tough one
Does he go out on loan,get regular games in the chumps.does well but his level is set there ala hugill & asombalonga?for me I'd rather he stayed & battled for 1st team football cos he is defo one for the future
home grown players
I understood that you could only have 17 foreign players in a premiership club and the rest have to be homegrown and we are 1short. If we sell Grady Diangana we are two short so I can't see him going to West Brom and it looks like we will still need 1 more. I've got Antonio, Noble, Fredricks, Wiltshire, Cullen, Martin and Diangana so who is our remaining named place in our squad going to be? Cardosa is under 21 so does not to be registered and this is why Rice won't count ashomegrown yet either so if West ham want to comply, it points to an English / Homegrown player and that's before we get Anji the Swiss international so it will be interesting to see how we get around this problem. Perhaps Hugill remains in our squad even though he is loaned out to QPR don't know, certainly a melon scratcher