Owen Hargreaves shares what impressed him about new WBA signing Mbaye Diagne
Owen Hargreaves was impressed by what he saw from Mbaye Diagne as he made his West Brom debut against Fulham last week.
Diagne, 29, came off the bench and did well to supply an assist for Matheus Pereira’s goal in the 2-2 draw at The Hawthorns.
He was handed a full debut against Sheffield United on Tuesday and played a role in Matt Phillips’ opener at Bramall Lane before the Albion went on to lose 2-1.
Speaking ahead of the defeat to the Blades, ex-Manchester United midfielder Hargreaves shared his thoughts on Diagne’s arrival at West Brom, suggesting that he’s an ideal centre-forward for manager Sam Allardyce.
“He played really well when he came on [against Fulham] and he had a good goalscoring record in Turkey when he was playing for Galatasaray, nine in 15,” Hargreaves said on BT Sport 2 on Tuesday night
“Sam made the point, he’s a target man. He gives them a physical presence. They’re not going to have a tonne of possession so he can be a focal point. If they can get it up to him, he can link it.
“The thing about this goal [versus Fulham] I like is the fact he’s involved in the initial build-up play but that little cutback there, it’s nice, it’s controlled. He’s not just smashed that back across.
“That assist will bode well for his confidence and I think Sam looked at the top of the pitch because they need goals.”
Still need more from Diagne
We’re not going to start ripping into a new signing but even though he played a role in Phillips’ goal against Sheffield United, he really should have scored with his chance.
It was a good save from Aaron Ramsdale but any striker worth their salt should be beating a goalkeeper who’s already on the floor.
Diagne’s assist for Pereira’s goal against Fulham was superb and he does seem as though he has a good footballing brain to go with his excellent target-man physique.
But he needs to score goals.
Diagne was prolific in Turkey, netting 51 times in 64 Super Lig appearances for both Kasimpasa and Galatasaray so he knows where the back of the net is.
He’s only had one shot at goal in 117 minutes [Wyscout] and that was the one he should have buried against Sheffield United.
It’s still early days for Diagne though and he has done more in his first two appearances than Karlan Grant has done for a very long time.
In other West Brom news, Albion are in talks to get rid of this attacker in an out-of-window deal.
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