Exclusive: Phillips claims loan star is ‘settled at West Brom’ as Bilic reportedly seeks deal
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Phillips can understand why West Ham would want to keep hold of Grady Diangana but he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the attacker wanting to join West Brom permanently if they win promotion to the Premier League.
Diangana, 22, has barely played since Christmas due to a number of different injury issues but he remains one of the key reasons as to why the Baggies have, so far, enjoyed their season in the Championship.
The attacker has scored five goals and supplied six assists in 21 league appearances so it is no shock that Slaven Bilic wants to sign him permanently [Claret & Hugh].
Ex-West Brom striker Phillips can see why West Ham would want to keep Diangana if they suffer relegation from the Premier League but believes that the decision might come down to the player, who he claims has made himself at home at The Hawthorns.
“If I’m a West Ham manager or owner, I wouldn’t want the kid to go if we got relegated,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“Ultimately it depends on the kid and what he wants to do. It looks like he’s settled at West Brom and he’s happy there.
“You’d like to think he’d want a crack in the Premier League with West Brom.
“It will be interesting to see how that one unfolds once the season is completed.”
We would love to see Diangana sign permanently but there are other factors to consider other than just whether the player wants to move.
The coronavirus pandemic is going to have a major impact on fooball’s economy and even if Albion win promotion, they might struggle to sign a highly-valued young English attacker like Diangana.
Let’s wait and see but we’re not holding out too much hope.
In other West Brom news, Albion are in the hunt to sign this striker who is nicknamed ‘The Tank’.
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