West Ham youngster Grady Diangana has remained with the first-team squad over the international break, according to football.london.
The regional site report that the 20-year-old forward is now close to becoming a fully-fledged member of the first-team squad after impressing on debut against Macclesfield and training well under Manuel Pellegrini.
Football.london claim that the Hammers coaching staff have decided against sending Diangana back to train at Chadwell Heath with the rest of the Under-23s, with the winger now set to remain at Rush Green for the foreseeable future.
OPINION
This is a huge boost for Diangana after his breakthrough into the first-team, and him remaining with the squad in recent weeks will have given him huge confidence moving forward. The 20-year-old was mightily impressive on debut against Macclesfield in the Carabao Cup, scoring two goals as the Irons romped to a record 8-0 win. That was then followed up with a brief substitute appearance in their win over Manchester United. It was thought that Diangana would eventually be sent back to train with the Under-23s, but Pellegrini has obviously been suitably impressed by the youngster and has decided to keep him around. The Chilean has previously spoken of his desire to blood new talent at the club, and this move is the first evidence of that. Hopefully Diangana can now push on and follow Declan Rice in nailing down regular first-team football at the London Stadium in the near future.