Author Topic: Grady Diangana  (Read 272265 times)

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lewisant

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #900 on: September 04, 2020, 10:27:37 PM »
How about we don't worry about the Bilic thread and enjoy this fantastic signing!

I'm absolutely buzzing tonight. I bought 4 beers and only planned on drinking 2 - i may push the boat out and have the 3rd!

this is huge, massive lift. Krovi & Robinson before next week will further lift things (Robinson might not be as good but seems good for the team), add a new striker and i think us fans will be VERY content going into the start of the season with a month left of the window.
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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #901 on: September 04, 2020, 10:29:13 PM »
Krovi, Robinson, new CF and a new GK and we got a decent chance.

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #902 on: September 04, 2020, 10:33:03 PM »
So happy with this news. A superb talent who gets bums off seats. Welcome back Grady.

frazzle

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #903 on: September 04, 2020, 10:33:26 PM »
How about we don't worry about the Bilic thread and enjoy this fantastic signing!

I'm absolutely buzzing tonight. I bought 4 beers and only planned on drinking 2 - i may push the boat out and have the 3rd!

this is huge, massive lift. Krovi & Robinson before next week will further lift things (Robinson might not be as good but seems good for the team), add a new striker and i think us fans will be VERY content going into the start of the season with a month left of the window.

Great post. Agreed!  :)

kc56wba

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #904 on: September 04, 2020, 10:37:57 PM »
DIANGANA PENS PERMANENT DEAL AT ALBION

Source: https://www.wba.co.uk/news/diangana-pens-permanent-deal-albion

Kev, you shouldn’t have gone out for that drink, you missed all the excitement  ;)

Heard about in the pub, I was quite excited and was told to calm down by the landlord. Welcome back Grady Diangana.
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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #905 on: September 04, 2020, 10:44:39 PM »
Too bloody right people were questioning him.....but that does not equal the same as wanting him sacked does it?

Come on. A lot of the comments were questioning whether he should stay. Questioning him = considering sacking him. You questioned him. So are you happy with him now compared to July?

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #906 on: September 04, 2020, 10:52:20 PM »
How about we don't worry about the Bilic thread and enjoy this fantastic signing!

I'm absolutely buzzing tonight. I bought 4 beers and only planned on drinking 2 - i may push the boat out and have the 3rd!

this is huge, massive lift. Krovi & Robinson before next week will further lift things (Robinson might not be as good but seems good for the team), add a new striker and i think us fans will be VERY content going into the start of the season with a month left of the window.
Add a really good goalkeeper and I am in complete agreement. Much happier now than I was a couple of weeks ago.

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #907 on: September 04, 2020, 11:00:17 PM »
Ok. Fair enough. So do you stand by your view that Bilic is ‘only average,unfortunately?

Straight question. Your answer?

Yes, his results from December onwards left a lot to be desired. Furthermore, the discussion was about a direct comparison with the globally recognised Bielsa among other top, top managers.

What he is particularly good at is man management. He also has a better personal scouting network than the club. Getting Diangana is a coup for the club and Bilić but I fear if he played for ANY OTHER side in the division it would not have happened.

Anyway. To reiterate, 'many' people weren't asking for him to be sacked and your superfan virtue signalling post has fallen pretty flat.
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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #908 on: September 04, 2020, 11:02:55 PM »
"Go and do your thing at a club that respects you" - Jack Wilshere.

It's safe to say the West Ham players haven't taken this well. Shows how well liked he was not just by his team mates here, but also by his team mates at West Ham as well.

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #909 on: September 04, 2020, 11:11:40 PM »
The Athletic have just uploaded an article on Diangana and how the two clubs view the deal etc. Anyone who's subscribed to the Athletic could you share the article on here please.

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #910 on: September 04, 2020, 11:15:27 PM »
Viewed in isolation he is Fantastic signing. Hopefully it is £12m with add ons and we aren’t completely spent though.

Praise for Dowling and the board needs to wait though.

Why?  This would not have been possible without them.

Fantastic signing and great work by Dowling, the board and of course Slaven for well, being Slaven!
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frazzle

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #911 on: September 04, 2020, 11:16:09 PM »
Yes, his results from December onwards left a lot to be desired. Furthermore, the discussion was about a direct comparison with the globally recognised Bielsa among other top, top managers.

What he is particularly good at is man management. He also has a better personal scouting network than the club. Getting Diangana is a coup for the club and Bilić but I fear if he played for ANY OTHER side in the division it would not have happened.

Anyway. To reiterate, 'many' people weren't asking for him to be sacked and your superfan virtue signalling post has fallen pretty flat.

You’ve avoided the question. Do you hold your view that Bilic is unfortunately average’?


frazzle

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #912 on: September 04, 2020, 11:17:47 PM »
Why?  This would not have been possible without them.

Fantastic signing and great work by Dowling, the board and of course Slaven for well, being Slaven!

Agreed. How many of us believed that this would have been possible, especially after Barnes. A great outcome and a huge boost for the season ahead.

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #913 on: September 04, 2020, 11:28:05 PM »
You’ve avoided the question. Do you hold your view that Bilic is unfortunately average’?

Answered in the first line. Do keep up.
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kc56wba

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #914 on: September 04, 2020, 11:36:33 PM »
Well done to EVERYONE CONCERNED for this signing
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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #915 on: September 04, 2020, 11:39:36 PM »
The Athletic have just uploaded an article on Diangana and how the two clubs view the deal etc. Anyone who's subscribed to the Athletic could you share the article on here please.

scroll back a couple of pages - i put it on earlier this evening

frazzle

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #916 on: September 04, 2020, 11:47:25 PM »
Answered in the first line. Do keep up.

 :D So many thing I could have replied with, but best to let you crack on I guess.

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #917 on: September 04, 2020, 11:51:54 PM »
Back to Diang please lads
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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #918 on: September 05, 2020, 12:26:49 AM »
Over the moon about this! Welocme back Grady :)

 He will have many of the prem full backs on toast, love watching him play.

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #919 on: September 05, 2020, 01:00:29 AM »
Athletic article

When Grady Diangana danced in a car park at The Hawthorns on July 22, celebrating promotion to the Premier League with jubilant West Bromwich Albion fans, it seemed like the end of a beautiful, fleeting romance.

The on-loan winger had played a pivotal role in taking West Brom to the Premier League and appeared destined to fulfil his destiny of being a star for West Ham United.

West Ham manager David Moyes had watched Diangana progress in the Championship with increasing interest and earmarked him for a role in the new, youthful team he envisioned at the London Stadium.

Slaven Bilic, the former West Ham boss now in charge of Albion, had thoroughly enjoyed working with Diangana but had little expectation of taking him into the Premier League. A permanent deal would, he believed, eat too much into his modest summer transfer kitty and another loan was a long shot, given the likelihood of the two clubs scrapping in a similar part of the table this season.

Moyes prepared to welcome Diangana into his team. Bilic prepared to move on.

Then, quickly, everything changed.

Today, the 22-year-old has completed a permanent move to West Brom in a deal that could be worth about £18 million, provoking a furious reaction from West Ham’s captain Mark Noble.

This is how the shock deal happened.

West Ham and Moyes had prepared for Albion to make their move. Diangana had performed so impressively in his 30 appearances in the Championship, scoring eight goals and contributing six assists, that West Brom were almost duty-bound to try their luck.

Moyes, though, was determined to stand firm.

“The Championship is a really tough league, so I’m pleased he was successful,” he said of Diangana at the end of last season. “I’m looking forward to having him back. It will give him the confidence of being in a winning side, and scoring and playing well.”

Diangana had signed a new six-and-half-year contract in January 2019, so West Ham were perfectly placed to rebuff any attempt to prise him away.

Back at West Ham for pre-season, Diangana’s form on the training ground impressed coaches and team-mates and his two assists in a friendly win over Ipswich Town on August 25 got supporters excited, too.


Diangana had impressed Moyes and his West Ham team-mates in pre-season (Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
“It was lovely to represent West Ham again,” he said afterwards. “I just want to be the best I can be every day. Hopefully, I can do that and break into the starting XI.”

On the face of it, Diangana looked set to get his wish.

But already, the sands were shifting beneath his and Moyes’s feet. West Ham needed money to fund their transfer plans and were struggling to raise it.

Moyes needs reinforcements and to rebalance a squad that lacks quality and depth in defence, as well as a potent goalscorer in attack. The club have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and despite the owners contributing a further £30 million over the summer they are short of transfer funds.

With little budget to use, West Ham’s recruitment staff could do no more than line up possible targets and wait for the money to move. West Ham hoped to sell Brazilian attacker Felipe Anderson and Argentine midfielder Manuel Lanzini, but were struggling to find takers for them.

For much of the summer, they also anticipated the exit of Declan Rice, the England midfielder and a close friend of Diangana’s — a departure that would have been unwelcome but would have solved their financial problems at a stroke. But Chelsea, his long-time suitors, went quiet and West Ham became increasingly sure Rice would stay. So if they were to bring players in, some difficult decisions had to be made.

With Albion’s interest in Diangana well-known, West Ham began to think the unthinkable. Ultimately the one position in which the club does have an excess of players is wide attackers and so the call was made to sacrifice one of their more saleable assets. Within a week, a deal was done.

That West Ham have secured a clause that guarantees them 20 per cent of any future sale goes some way to guarding against Diangana realising his future potential elsewhere, but also suggests the club know they are letting a talented player leave the building.

It was a mark of the regard in which he is held by team-mates that Mark Noble, the club’s captain, was moved to tweet: “As captain of this football club I’m gutted, angry and sad that Grady has left, great kid with a great future!!!!!” The message was shared by Rice.

When Diangana left West Brom in July at the end of his loan, he did not expect to return, despite having developed a deep affection for the West Midlands club.

What started as a season-long marriage of convenience to turbo-charge his development and push West Brom up the Championship table had turned into a close bond.

Diangana joined West Ham as a 12-year-old and had put down strong roots at the east London club, but in Albion, he found somewhere else where he felt at home. He was comfortable with the surroundings of the Great Barr training ground, developed close friendships with team-mates, especially fellow loanee Matheus Pereira, who also rejoined permanently last month, and thrived in the first-team environment.

When staff members at Albion stayed in touch as friends after he went back to West Ham, it cemented his view of the club as somewhere he would have been happy to settle.

He did not expect it to happen, but when West Ham decided they were ready to sell, Diangana was comfortable with the idea of joining Albion in a permanent deal.

There was interest from abroad — Ajax and PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands and clubs in Germany’s Bundesliga — but Diangana’s ambitions lay in the Premier League. Domestically, Aston Villa were in the frame but they had other priorities — namely, completing the purchase of Nottingham Forest right-back Matty Cash and signing a striker — so wanted Diangana to wait. Albion, in contrast, made it clear he was their top priority and wanted to conclude a deal quickly.

There was a late attempt by fellow Premier League newcomers Fulham to hijack the move by matching Albion’s bid, but Diangana was happier both with the personal terms on offer at Albion and the chance to return to a club he knew.

More than anything, he was swayed by the knowledge he would head to The Hawthorns as a crucial first-team player. Wherever he went, starts could not be guaranteed, but he knew that at West Brom he had a real chance of becoming a Premier League regular.

The idea proved too seductive to refuse. Diangana had enjoyed his year living in Birmingham and a return to the city with the chance to make it a permanent home was appealing. He has yet to settle on a place to live but the search has begun.

Diangana had no burning desire to leave West Ham. But when circumstances changed, he was keen to move somewhere he was wanted.

At The Hawthorns, the appeal of re-signing Diangana was clear but the reality was less straightforward.

He had fitted in perfectly last season, was popular with his team-mates and Bilic and, given his age and his profile, would have a re-sale value to the club — a factor deemed to be crucial.

Barring a catastrophic turn of events in his career, it was impossible to see his asking price going down.

Yet there were words of caution from some that spending a significant portion of his overall summer transfer budget in an area of the squad where Bilic was already well-stocked could leave Albion without the flexibility for other priorities.

Bilic badly needs a centre-forward capable of scoring goals consistently in the Premier League and committing the thick end of £20 million to signing Diangana threatened to significantly reduce the possibilities of getting one.

Ultimately, though, the club decided signing Diangana on the terms available was simply too good a deal to turn down. They are expected to pay a guaranteed £18 million, though not necessarily up front, and as explained above they will have to give West Ham 20 per cent of any fee if they sell him in the future.

Fully aware that relegation after one season back among the elite is a possibility, Albion wanted players in their squad who would be attractive to buyers next summer.

Pereira, signed for £8.5 million from Sporting Lisbon, is one player who would almost guarantee a profit should he move on in a year’s time. West Brom feel Diangana falls into the same category.


Diangana has joined Pereira, left, in making his move to West Brom permanent (Photo: Adam Fradgley/AMA/West Bromwich Albion FC via Getty Images)
So, Albion pressed the button on the deal, but did their best to structure it so the fee payment is spread out across the five years of his contract.

Now comes the task of using what money is left to get “creative” and pull off other signings. They retain a strong interest in Huddersfield Town striker Karlan Grant, but the Championship club want £16 million for him. Albion’s hopes appear to rest on technical director Luke Dowling’s ability to devise a package that meets Huddersfield’s expectations while staying within their own financial limits.

Taking Troy Deeney on loan from Watford following their relegation out of the top flight has been discussed but the 32-year-old is not currently a primary target and negotiations over him have been put on ice.

The impact of landing Diangana will only truly be known when West Brom’s 2020-21 squad is finalised.

But for now, fans are excited, team-mates are enthused and Bilic and Moyes are coming to terms with the completion of a deal that neither of them expected.

(Top photo: Arfa Griffiths/West Ham United FC via Getty Images)

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #920 on: September 05, 2020, 03:01:35 AM »
Being the pessimist I am when I read Diangana signs for Albion, my first thought was the fake bha had beaten us to his signature.

When I saw his youtube post promotion celebration video, I was upset that we'd not see someone who clearly loves the club and playing for us, in the top he was wearing.

Thank christ internet porn has diminished the porn barons fortunes so much that they have to sell the family silver.

At least they can't be lynched in an empty stadium they are still paying rent for.

Good luck and God bless you Grady for returning home.

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #921 on: September 05, 2020, 03:49:26 AM »
So chuffed with this. Think non of us expected it but as per the article on the Atheltic sometimes the stars just align in your favour. Big kudos to the club for pulling it off.

Welcome back Grady!
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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #922 on: September 05, 2020, 04:54:35 AM »
HUGH relief,  no I can celebrate today with a few wines

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #923 on: September 05, 2020, 06:01:09 AM »
I don’t think I’ve been as excited and thrilled that we have signed Grady Diangana since Sticky the Stick Insect got stuck on a sticky bun!   🤣

Why all euphoria? 
Because unlike normal transfers, Grady being with us for a season, we know in advance just how good he is and his future potential as well as seeing his obvious affection for West Bromwich Albion FC in his post promotion celebrations.


West Brom 2023/24
Has Sticky the Stick Insect finally got unstuck from that sticky bun?
Great stuff under Corberan - keep it up Baggies!

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Re: Grady Diangana joins Albion PERMANENTLY
« Reply #924 on: September 05, 2020, 07:12:18 AM »
Signing Grady is a pivotal moment in our history. We now have a chance of establishing in the top flight by converting the chances Grady and MP will create between them (which they're both capable of 'out of nowhere').
 Even HRK should be able to get on the score sheet!!

Very happy Baggie this morning. Well done to all involved....and welcome to the shrine Grady!
« Last Edit: September 05, 2020, 07:14:59 AM by miggybaggy »