OPINION
West Ham United winger Grady Diangana has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign this season, but there is no doubt that his progress has been majorly halted in recent months.
Since the turn of the year the 20-year-old has played just 25 minutes of Premier League action, a shockingly low total considering the big impact he had on the team from October onwards.
The youngster continues to say all the right things, though, including that he has gained encouragement from his fellow Hammer Declan Rice’s recent England call-up.
“Seeing [Declan] gives me a lot of inspiration,” he told the Evening Standard. “I believe I can get to where he has got to and what he has achieved, making over 50 appearances for the first team.
“I have realised this season you have to be excellent every single day. There is no way you can switch off and not take it seriously. You have to be high quality every day.”
Those are mature words from a young man and they hint at a self-awareness which isn’t always evident in young footballers. However, he needs to make it count on the pitch now.
His season has fizzled out spectacularly in 2019 and it’s going to be difficult to break back into West Ham’s starting line up. There is huge competition for places in the attacking midfield positions at the moment, which is why Diangana’s involvement decreased in the first place.
Manuel Lanzini, Michail Antonio, Felipe Anderson, Robert Snodgrass and Samir Nasri are all seemingly ahead of the youngster in manager Manuel Pellegrini’s pecking order, and they are huge obstacles for him to overcome.
It will be interesting to see how involved Diangana is over the final few months of the season, but unless he re-enters the first team picture quickly then he might have to look for a loan away from the club next time out.