Many West Ham fans have taken to Twitter to call for fringe forward Grady Diangana to be handed the opportunity to impress in the first team after the reported hammer blow to senior star Andriy Yarmolenko.
The Ukrainian winger was stretchered off in the clash against Tottenham on Saturday afternoon and the Mirror have gone on to claim that he has suffered a ruptured achilles and will be forced to sit out of action for as long as six months in what is another massive injury blow for the Hammers.
The likes of Manuel Lanzini, Andy Carroll and Winston Reid have all been sitting on the sidelines for a notable amount of time with their respective setbacks, and Yarmolenko seems to be the latest to join the list.
However, much of the Hammers faithful on social media have been trying to be positive on Twitter by calling for 20-year-old Diangana to be given the chance to fill the void, having come off the bench against Spurs.
This is Futbol has gathered a selection of the supporters’ tweets:
Worst possible out come he will be out for the season now however could be a massive opportunity for diangana or Holland to break through
— will earle (@willearle_) October 21, 2018
Oh no, I wish him a speedy recovery ?….. great opportunity for Diangana right now
— J (@veryupsetfan) October 21, 2018
https://twitter.com/harrythills/status/1054001152986173440
https://twitter.com/mikebailey92/status/1054004767494754305
https://twitter.com/markemery1978/status/1054046265410023425
https://twitter.com/ForeverWestHam4/status/1054007312678043648
https://twitter.com/_ConnorWHUFC/status/1054012848639217664
https://twitter.com/JCHammer13/status/1054014580375109632
Now that Yarmolenko has been confirmed to be injured for near enough the rest of the season – Diangana should look to feature ahead of Antonio. Even at his age now, Diangana has much better footballing ability than Antonio. Antonio an impact sub at very best these days.
— Josh V (@WestHamJoshV) October 21, 2018
Diangana is gonna step up
— J (@veryupsetfan) October 21, 2018
Our luck with injuries is crazy. At least it opens a spot for Lanzini when he returns. Let's hope Antonio and Diangana step up too ????
— ? AJ ? (@northwesthammer) October 21, 2018
Opinion
These West Ham fans have obviously learned to take the positives out of a negative situation, and with the amount of injuries they have suffered in recent months they could have been pretty miserable by now. Still, they all make a very good point and the potential emergence of Diangana in the senior side could be a silver lining for everyone at the London Stadium as yet another homegrown talent goes from the youth system to the fringes of the first team. He looked impressive in his cameo against Tottenham and the more game time he is handed, the more comfortable he will become. The question is whether Manuel Pellegrini will be willing to take such a risk and start the youngster, or whether the more experienced head of Michail Antonio will get the nod and Diangana is used more frequently as a substitute. It seems the fans would rather the young talent starts, but only time will tell as to what the Hammers decide to do.