View: Barnes v Diangana debate analysed as some West Brom fans divided by loan favourites
OPINION
West Brom have been blessed – and cursed – with different players that they have signed on loan over the years but two players who are being debated over at the moment are Grady Diangana and last season’s star Harvey Barnes.
Barnes was one of the most exciting attacking players that West Brom fans had seen in years and it was no shock at all that Albion’s season started to go down the pan once Leicester recalled the England Under-21 international in January.
The 21-year-old scored nine goals and supplied seven assists in 26 Championship appearances during his loan at The Hawthorns and although his time in the West Midlands was brief, he’s left a lasting impact on supporters.
So much so that West Brom fans are still talking about Barnes now and are comparing him to this season’s loan star Diangana, who has been in a hot streak of form since arriving on a season-long deal from Slaven Bilic’s former club West Ham in the summer.
Diangana, 21, has proven to be a hit at this early stage of the campaign, scoring four goals and supplying three assists in his nine league appearances for Albion.
It has led to some West Brom fans on Twitter discussing who has been best for them and here is a selection of their tweets:
It is clear that West Brom fans, as a whole, cannot make their minds up on who was better for them and while Diangana is only a few months into his loan spell at The Hawthorns, he has made enough of an impact to justify comparing him to Barnes.
Barnes scored some important goals for Albion and averaged 0.35 goals per league match during his loan spell in the Black Country.
Diangana has also netted some big goals with his brace off the bench to win the game against Luton still fresh in the minds of supporters. It’s early days but the West Ham loanee has averaged 0.44 goals per game.
Diangana has also averaged 0.33 assists per match compared to Barnes’ 0.23.
Maybe a winner in this debate is emerging already?
According to stats by WhoScored, Barnes averaged 3.4 shots per Championship appearance while Diangana has so far averaged 1.8. However while this shows that the Leicester ace was firing more shots at goal, it also proves that Diangana’s shots have been more likely to make the net ripple.
Barnes was known for his dribbling ability by the West Brom supporters but Diangana has actually averaged more dribbles per match [2.6] than Barnes [1.7] while Diangana also currently ranks better for key passes [1.8] than the Foxes winger did [1.5].
Barnes was fouled more often in his loan spell and was dispossessed less often by opposition players than Diangana has so far been at The Hawthorns.
It is not exactly clear yet whether it was Barnes who was West Brom’s best attacker in this spell in the Championship, or whether Diangana will become that at the end of his time in the Black Country.
However one thing is for sure, if Diangana remains at The Hawthorns past the end of the January transfer window and helps fires the Baggies back to the Premier League, there’s not going to be any doubt that he was the biggest success.
In other West Brom news, fans have urged this Albion player to sign a new contract with the club.