West Ham United have opened talks with winger Grady Diangana about a new long term contract with the club, according to Claret & Hugh.
The reliable Hammers insider claims that the club are looking to tie the 20-year-old down to a fresh five or six year deal at the London Stadium.
Diangana has 18 months left to run on his current contract but West Ham are keen to reward the youngster for his rapid progression under manager Manuel Pellegrini.
Any new contract will have multiple clauses and is likely to be heavily performance-incentivised. However, that should be no problem for a man who has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign in East London this season.
OPINION
This is tremendous news for everyone associated with West Ham. Diangana has been one of the success stories of this season under Pellegrini. He has made wonderful progress and is now an important part of the Chilean’s first team squad. Given his age, his talent and the impact he has already made with the team this was a no brainer for the West Ham brass. They needed to tie down their best young talent and it looks like they are going to do that. They already got Declan Rice’s new deal sorted, and now Diangana looks set to follow. It’s important that he doesn’t view this new contract as ‘making it’. He still has much work to do before he’s a genuine first team regular. He has been in and out of the team in recent months and he needs to remain patient over the next couple of seasons. With Samir Nasri having arrived this month there is now even more competition for places, but Diangana needs to work hard on the training ground and take the chances he gets.
