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Haller impressed by West Ham youngster Diangana's pre-season form
The Anglo-Congolese midfielder put in a good show during the opening round of the Hammers pre-season games
West Ham United and Franco-Ivorian striker Sebastien Haller has stated how impressed he is with Grady Diangana who put in some fine displays as the Hammers kicked off pre-season.
They first took on Ipswich Town winning 4-1 before they saw off Adebayo Akinfenwa’s Wycombe Wanderers 5-1.
The 21-year-old Anglo-Congolese was involved in the first game and provided two assists from Haller who bagged a hat-trick.
This thrilled Haller who is hoping Diangana can supply him for more goals moving forward.
“It’s nice for us to have a kind of player like Grady. Everyone knows the quality he has and then he went on loan to West Brom and everyone knows he performed pretty well,” Haller said on the club website.
“We are all happy to have him here and we are going to try to use his quality and strength, me most of all. Hopefully, he will be giving me even more assists in the future!”
Hammers boss David Moyes was equally pleased with Diangana’s performances and wants to see his players in better shape as they prepare for the 2020-21 Premier League season starting with a home tie against Newcastle United on September 13.
“There was some very good performances. Seb got three and he probably could have got five or six. Grady had some good moments. We’re pleased and, overall, it was good,” Moyes said.
“Several young players also got opportunities to play as well, and we had to play one or two out of position because of one or two injuries. From that point of view, they all got some minutes.
“We play Brentford on Saturday in another friendly and that takes it up another level. We’re trying to get better and make sure we’re going to play well and score goals and do a lot of right things.
“There were a few things we didn’t do well today as well, so we’re not getting carried away with ourselves, but that’s the first game for the players.”
Diangana has been with West Ham since 2010 as a youth player and finally made his senior bow on September 2018. He has had limited opportunities with the first team and was loaned out to last season’s Championship runners-up, West Bromwich Albion, making 30 appearances, scoring eight goals and providing seven assists.
