West Brom are trying to sell the player Mark Noble started a mutiny over but there’ll be no Grady Diangana cut for West Ham.
West Ham’s £18m sale of Grady Diangana to West Bromwich Albion for £18million in 2020 threatened to derail the club’s season before it had even begun.
Fans were in revolt against the owners. And so too were some of the Hammers’ most influential players.
West Ham captain at the time Mark Noble took the unprecedented step of hitting out at the decision to sell the young winger with a pointed message to the club’s owners on social media.
“As captain of this football club I’m gutted, angry and sad that Grady has left, great kid with a great future!!!!!” Noble said in direct response to West Ham’s official announcement of the sale.
Noble publicly hit out at controversial £18m sale of Diangana
As the Hammers squad piled in to support Noble’s comment, it seemed West Ham were in for another long, hard season.
When David Moyes’s side lost their first two games that appeared to be confirmed.
What followed not even the most optimistic West Ham fan could have forseen.
Moyes led the club to its highest ever Premier League points total and into the Europa League group stages for the first time – agonisingly missing out on the Champions League spot they had been chasing by just one win.
Noble was echoing how many West Ham fans felt at the time and what the sale represented. But his comments drew criticism from the likes of Simon Jordan who told Noble he’d got it horribly wrong and said he should ‘stay in his lane’.
Fast forward to present day, Noble is sporting director and West Ham are on the up and up about to embark on a third consecutive season of European football having won their first trophy in over four decades.
And the club is on the verge of signing its most exciting player since Dimitri Payet.
West Brom trying to sell player Mark Noble started a mutiny over but there’ll be no Grady Diangana cut for West Ham
Diangana meanwhile has managed just seven goals in 96 games for the Baggies since making his move permanent.
Now West Brom are trying to sell the player Noble started a mutiny over but there’ll be no Diangana cut for West Ham.
Journalist Alan Nixon claims West Brom are hoping to sell winger Diangana before the summer transfer window shuts to bring in more cash.
“The Baggies have been leaving Diangana out of their side and want to cash in with Leeds and even Burnley among those keeping an eye on developments,” Nixon said on his Patreon page.
West Ham inserted a 20 per cent sell-on fee in the Diangana deal with West Brom.
No kick-back from 20 per cent sell-on clause as West Brom hawk out winger for £7m
But there won’t be extra cash for the Hammers if West Brom do manage to offload the West Ham Academy graduate.
Because sell-on fees are based on any profit that is made on a deal. And West Brom will not be getting anywhere close to the £18m they paid West Ham for the winger, let alone making a profit.
Website The 72 claims the ex West Ham youngster is being offered to clubs for £7m.
Good luck to Grady – once a Hammer, always a Hammer.
But it is proof, if needed, that sometimes tough decisions have to be made for the good of the club.
And West Ham have gone from strength-to-strength since that sale. In many ways it has proved to be a sliding doors moment for the club and the player.
Former West Ham assistant boss Stuart Pearce went on to praise the club for ‘astute finance’ over the controversial sale of Diangana.
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