West Brom news: Journalist comments on rumours surrounding Diangana
Grady Diangana has been sidelined for West Brom since the beginning of 2021 and BirminghamLive journalist Joe Chapman commented on his whereabouts.
Rumours have circulated suggesting the £20,000 a week star is refusing to play, but Chapman believes that is likely not true.
Instead, Diangana is still being troubled by a hamstring injury that forced him off in the defeat against Arsenal at the beginning of January.
Diangana was initially meant to return for the match against Wolves, but “tweaked” his hamstring ahead of that clash according to Sam Allardyce.
Sorely missed
Diangana has not been at the top of his game this season but without him we lack a natural left-winger.
Kamil Grosicki took his place against Wolves and in other matches but he has been out of favour more recently.
As a result, Karlan Grant and Callum Robinson have been used on the left by Big Sam – without success.
Neither possesses the creativity or crossing ability to create chances for Mbaye Diagne.
Per Wyscout, Grant has completed just 28% of his crosses this term, and Robinson 25%.
Diangana, by comparison, has 16 goal contributions since he arrived at the Hawthorns in 2019.
Most of those have come in the Championship, but with Diagne now giving us a strong aerial threat we could see Diangana return to his best.
His return of 1.5 dribbles per game is the best in the squad (WhoScored), so we are really missing that now too.
At times under Big Sam, like against Tottenham, we have looked slow and in need of a player who can run at players.
Diangana would provide that, so we are keen to have him back soon.
In other West Brom news, ‘It could come back to bite them’ – Exclusive: Phillips surprised by West Brom 22y/o exit.