OPINION
Amid this awful run of no wins in six games in all competitions at West Ham United, there are perhaps those amongst the Hammers fanbase who no longer believe manager Manuel Pellegrini to be capable of intelligence.
However, former Irons boss and current West Bromwich Albion manager Slaven Bilic has shown that the Chilean remains a smart man with his latest comments on the Grady Diangana situation.
Pellegrini confirmed at his pre match press conference on Thursday, as per Football London, that he will not be recalling the West Ham winger from his loan spell with Bilic’s team.
And the Croatian saluted the Hammers chief for his decision this week: “I really think that for us, for West Ham and for Grady, it’ll best for him to stay and to grow up as a player,” he said, as per the Express & Star.
What Bilic says is absolutely spot on, and it shows that Pellegrini is still the smart man he was always considered to be. A poor run of form doesn’t change that.
And while bringing the red-hot Diangana back to the London Stadium is intriguing in the short-term, Pellegrini’s stance is undoubtedly what is best for both the player and West Ham as a club in the long-term.
The 21-year-old has been absolutely electric at The Hawthorns. As per WhoScored.com, Diangana has scored four times and grabbed four assists this campaign.
Furthermore, he is averaging 1.5 shots, 1.8 key passes and 2.4 successful dribbles per game; stunning statistics from a young man in the rigorous Championship.
Why would you disrupt that mid-season just to bring the Englishman back to compete for game time with Andriy Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson, Manuel Lanzini, Pablo Fornals, Robert Snodgrass, Michail Antonio and Jack Wilshere?
No, Pellegrini has got this one spot on, and Bilic’s comments prove that.
