West Ham United midfielder Mark Noble has delivered his verdict on teammate Grady Diangana’s new contract with the club.
The 20-year-old extended his current deal to ensure that he remains at the London Stadium for another six years, something which Noble has described as “fantastic” – and the club captain has revealed what he said to the young ace in light of him signing the deal.
He urged Diangana to work even harder to prove that he is worthy of an even better deal in the future, and to remember how far he has come seeing as he was not near the first team a few months ago.
“One player I would expect to be involved against AFC match is Grady Diangana, who has just signed a long-term contract. It’s so important to keep your most promising homegrown players,” he said in his Evening Standard column.
“Grady came to ask me a few times about his contract situation — how I saw it and what he should do — and to sign a six-year deal at the age of just 20 is fantastic.
“The one thing I did say was, “Look, Grady. You were nowhere near our first team a few months ago. You came over and trained with us once, you did really well, the manager took a shine to you — and look at what has happened since.
“Don’t forget where you were back then and now work even harder to get that next, even bigger contract. Don’t rest on this deal, go again and make sure you sign an even bigger one sometime in the future”.
OPINION
Noble is absolutely spot on – to sign a six year contract at the age of just 20 is quite fantastic. Seeing as he was not in with a shout of making the first team a few months ago makes the deal even more of an achievement for somebody of his age. He was hardly heard of at the start of the season, and now he has turned out to be one of the club’s most pivotal players in attack. His speed can terrorise defences no matter who West Ham are playing, and this is no doubt an attribute that has impressed Manuel Pellegrini the most. Noble is right to say that he should work to an even better deal in the future, though. He has shown in recent times that he is worthy of a long-term future with the Hammers, and he has definitely earned a few admirers along the way.
