Football League World
·30 July 2024
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·30 July 2024
West Bromwich Albion's Grady Diangana has one year remaining on his contract at The Hawthorns.
This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
West Bromwich Albion forward Grady Diangana attracted transfer interest last summer, and now that he has entered the final year of his contract, there could be further speculation before the end of the current transfer window.
Diangana signed for the Baggies on loan from West Ham United in 2019, before the deal was made permanent a year later for a fee that could have reached £18m.
He was reportedly the subject of transfer interest from Leeds United this time last year, while Leicester City and Burnley were also linked with moves for the attacker during last season's summer transfer window.
However, the 26-year-old stayed at The Hawthorns, and was an important player for West Brom under the impressive management of Carlos Corberan last season, scoring seven goals and assisting eight as the Baggies reached the play-offs in the Championship.
The DR Congo international has yet to agree a new deal at West Brom, with just one year left on the five-year contract he agreed when he signed permanently from West Ham. As per a report from Africa Foot earlier this summer, Diangana could make a sensational return to the Hammers ahead of next season, while Wolverhampton Wanderers have also been keeping tabs on him.
It would be no surprise if a club were to reignite their interest in Diangana before the transfer window closes at the end of August, especially considering that West Brom will not want to risk losing a valuable asset for nothing under their current financial circumstances.
Football League World's Baggies fan pundit, Callum Burgess, believes that West Brom could sell Diangana this summer if there are no other significant outgoings before the end of the transfer window.
"If it gets quite late into the window and Albion still haven't recouped a lot of money for other players, such as the likes of Asante, maybe John Swift could be someone who leaves, Yokuslu feels like he's already out the door at this point to return to Turkey, I think, I feel like there will be plenty of interest in Diangana," said Burgess.
"He is, like you mentioned, in the last year of his contract. Last summer there was a bit of interest, so maybe we could see those clubs return. I believe Leicester and Burnley were a couple of the teams mentioned at the time.
"Should he leave? I think he's on the back of a really good season last year, where he contributed a lot of goals and assists, and with the loss of [Mikey] Johnston as well, he would be a really big loss.
"I think, at the very least, we should be looking at £6m or £7m until we start to consider letting him go.
"He would be a really big loss to the team."
According to the report from Africa Foot, West Ham were considering making an offer in the region of £10m for Diangana earlier on in the summer transfer window. However, West Brom should do everything they can to convince him to sign a new deal, especially if they sell Brandon Thomas-Asante to Southampton, as has been rumoured.
West Brom scored the fewest goals out of any top-six side in the Championship last season, and following the departure of Cedric Kipre this summer, they may not have as good a defensive record during the 2024/25 campaign. Therefore, they cannot afford to lose too many of their most influential attacking players during the current transfer window if they want to mount another promotion push next term.
As long as the club's finances are under control and the money from any other potential sales is enough to balance the books, West Brom should attempt to keep hold of Diangana - if he signs a new deal.
As Burgess alluded to, anything upwards of £6m would definitely help Corberan bring in a couple of new players, but it would certainly be a risk for West Brom to lose a player who contributed a fair amount of goals last season unless he would definitely leave on a free next year otherwise.