Preseason fixtures are fickle things, a glimpse into a looking glass that leaves onlookers unsure whether what’s playing out in the pitch truly mirrors reality — and perhaps that uncertainty is only heightened this year, with Covid-19 shortening the preparation period.
But what West Ham fans saw from Grady Diangana in his first action back at the club following a successful loan spell with West Brom in the Championship was enough to build excitement after a thoroughly disappointing 16th-place finish in the 2019-20 campaign.
In that first match — a 4-1 victory over Ipswich Town — Diangana looked every bit like the missing piece the Hammers so often needed last year.
He challenged his markers, laced threatening crosses into the box and showed the work rate required to pitch in on defensive duties. Early on, he bullied a defender off the ball deep in West Ham’s attacking third, wiggled his way past another and set up striker Sebastian Haller’s first tally with a calm pass inside the six-yard box. His second assist, this time from the right wing, showed his vision, picking out Haller on the back-post, needling his ball through a host of defenders.
That creativity was mouth-watering. Better yet, it came from a 22-year-old who had joined West Ham’s academy a decade ago. Diangana personified every bit of what manager David Moyes ought to have been looking for when he said in January, “I want it to be the vision for the club that we are looking to bring in young, attractive and hungry players who are saying: ‘We are going to make West Ham better.’”
Perhaps more importantly is what Moyes said next, though: “I think if I get given the opportunity to do that, I will turn it around.”
Again, if he’s given that opportunity, a clear signal that Moyes knew full well the ownership team of David Gold, David Sullivan and Karren Brady might undercut his vision. And that’s exactly what happened.
West Ham sold Diangana back to newly promoted West Brom on Friday in a deal that could approach £18 million. For a promising player who seemed on the cusp of a major breakthrough, it’s an underwhelming figure, particularly because Diangana will line up for another team striving to stave off relegation, a scrap the Hammers seem destined to be in once more.
With the sale of Diangana, West Ham ought to stop kidding itself. The Academy of Football — a generous nickname, considering the rapidly receding reputation of the players produced in recent years — is dead.
There’s no guarantee Diangana would have been a star. But the signs sure pointed that way for a playmaker who scored eight goals and added six assists in 23 appearances for West Brom last season. Looking at West Ham’s first team, the lack of homegrown talent is awfully apparent. Barring Declan Rice — the 21-year-old defensive midfielder whom Chelsea eyes — only Ben Johnson and Mark Noble are academy graduates.
There are a handful of fringe first-team players looking to follow in Rice’s footsteps, but opportunities haven’t always been ripe. Johnson might feature prominently at fullback this season, especially after fellow academy-graduate Jeremy Ngakia joined Watford on a free transfer in August. It might be out of necessity the 20-year-old sees game time, too, with the lack of defensive options available.
In the official club statement announcing Diangana’s transfer, the club pointed to a need to bolster the defense as a reason to sell.
“The decision to sell Grady has been made reluctantly but — ultimately — in the best interests of the Club and with the aim to strengthen the squad in different areas at this time,” the statement read. “The money received for Grady will be reinvested entirely in the team, in line with the manager’s targets.”
Sure, reinvestment is needed, especially after allowing 62 goals during the 2019/20 campaign. But this is not the way to go about it, not for the so-called Academy of Football, selling your brightest prospects. How desperate is the club?
Actually, don’t answer that. The sale of Diangana — and the cut-price sales of Jordan Hugill and Albian Ajeti earlier this summer — answers that question for us.
For Noble — the longest-serving West Ham player in history, part of the first-team setup since 2004 — the sale of Diangana perhaps stings most. It prematurely ends what could have been the beginning of another long and storied West Ham career.
“As captain of this football club I’m gutted, angry and sad that Grady has left, great kid with a great future!!!!!” Noble tweeted Friday night.
Noble speaks for all West Ham fans, because he is a West Ham fan. He’s angry. And you should be, too.