West Brom’s West Ham transfer bullet could’ve been Derby County’s instead | OneFootball

The Rams will be grateful the Baggies pipped them to a deal for what would turn out to be a frustrating Grady Diangana.

Heading into the 2019-20 campaign, Derby County were reeling from an agonising defeat in the play-off final.

Finishing sixth in the 2018-19 term under Frank Lampard, the Rams came from one goal down against Leeds United after the first leg of the semi-final to beat the Whites 4-2 at Elland Road, sending them to Wembley to take on Aston Villa, who had edged past their West Midlands counterparts West Brom on penalties.

But Derby couldn’t go all the way to land a dream return to the Premier League, falling to the Villans 2-1, as Anwar El Ghazi and John McGinn’s efforts were enough to seal victory, despite Jack Marriott halving the deficit late on.

It was heartbreak for the Rams, who came within one game of playing top-flight football for the first time since 2008.

Heading into the summer, Derby had been dealt a major blow by losing Lampard, who had departed to take up the vacant Head Coach role at Chelsea, so Phillip Cocu was instilled and tasked with helping the squad go one step further.

Of course, as is natural in the summer transfer window, many names were linked with arriving to Pride Park.

One of those was then West Ham attacker Grady Diangana, who was embarking on his first professional loan move away from the Hammers.

In the end, he opted to join West Brom with ex-West Ham chief Slaven Bilic at the helm, who had used his past connections in East London to land the promising winger.

It wasn’t revealed until the following January transfer window of the term that Derby were interested in Diangana, with journalist Steve Nicholsen reporting that the Rams were close to landing the then 21-year-old before his move to The Hawthorns.

But looking back at Diangana’s career at West Brom, Derby looked to have had a lucky escape, with the attacker suffering badly from inconsistent displays, flattering to deceive most of the time in blue and white stripes.

Grady Diangana’s spell at West Brom means Derby County dodged a bullet

Grady Diangana was certainly a polarising figure among West Brom supporters during his six years in the Black Country, leading Derby County supporters to think that they had dodged a bullet by not securing his services.

The Congolese international did burst onto the Championship scene at The Hawthorns though when arriving on loan, dazzling the second tier and forming a joyful partnership with Brazilian playmaker Matheus Pereira.

Their combination would get Albion supporters buzzing with excitement and regularly off their seats, with the duo spearheading the Baggies' eventual promotion back to the Premier League.

Eight goals and seven assists from 30 second tier appearances saw Diangana link up at B71 on a permanent deal, joining for a reported fee of £18m and putting pen to paper on a five-year contract.

There was well-documented frustration from the Hammers’ side about a deal going through, with then club captain Mark Noble revealing he was “gutted, angry and sad” that Diangana had been sold.

But upon joining their Premier League campaign, Diangana failed to show much consistency during his permanent stay with Albion, as supporters never really got to see the talent they witnessed in his debut campaign.

Diangana netted just once from 20 Premier League matches, falling out of favour when Bilic was replaced by Sam Allardyce, while a hamstring injury also halted his efforts to gain regular game-time.

Back in the Championship under a combination of Valerien Ismael and Steve Bruce, Diangana failed to have a starring role in the Albion team, recording only two goals and one assist all term as the Baggies slumped to a disappointing mid-table finish.

The 2022-23 season would result in an equally disappointing campaign, with Diangana mustering only four goals and three assists, but 2023-24 saw the midfielder return to his best, as Carlos Corberan managed to unlock his talents.

His seven goals and eight assists helped the Baggies reach the play-offs – albeit it ended in a semi-final defeat to Southampton.

His final season for West Brom was a turbulent one for the playing squad, as Corberan left on the eve of Christmas, while Tony Mowbray’s return ended in disastrous fashion and club legend James Morrison took interim charge as their hopes of a top six spot faded away.

Diangana reverted to his inconsistent ways unfortunately, as more injury troubles limited him to four goals and three assists, leading to the club releasing him at the end of his contract, when he then moved to Spanish side Elche on a free transfer.

Derby County will be relieved to have missed out on Grady Diangana capture

Looking back at Grady Diangana’s six years in a West Brom shirt, it’s safe to say that Derby County breathed a huge sigh of relief by not having him on their books.

The Rams may well have been regretting the decision when Diangana was such a livewire in his opening season for Albion, but much of that was because of the presence of a Premier League level player in Matheus Pereira, who really helped to bring out the flair in the West Ham loanee.

After that, Albion got nowhere near the £18m fee they paid for with what Diangana ended up producing, failing to make it in the Premier League and subsequently losing his mojo back in the Championship once Pereira had departed.

Two good seasons out of a possible six showcased exactly how inconsistent Diangana was, and that’s the last thing the Rams would have wanted when needing someone to take games by the scruff of the neck and showcase their qualities most weeks to get themselves in the promotion mix.

And during the two seasons after that saw Derby eventually slump to relegation into League One, it is unlikely Diangana would have been their saving grace to prevent that from happening either.