(Photo by Arfa Griffiths/West Ham United via Getty Images)
Grady Diangama has told Sky Sports that is feels perfectly natural to him that he is now playing in the Premier League.
The youngster has taken the Hammers scene by storm over the last few games and the fans even voted him man of the match ahead of Felipe Anderson last week.
His first interview showed him as a self composed young man who was at ease with his questioner declaring: “From the moment I was old I was involved in the first team (against Macclesfield) I knew I was ready.
His only problem he admitted was when scoring the goal as he revealed ” I didn’t know what to do.”
He admitted that having his former under 23 captain on the pitch was a huge help to him because he said: “It’s easier when Declan is out there because he makes me feel calm.”
But Diangana feels too that he is pretty much under control himself adding: ” I have a good mind set and it feel natural for me to be playing at this level.”
Claret and Hugh’s view
There is it seems far more going on at the academy than producing Premier League quality players although if there wasn’t that would be enough. However, Grady Diangana’s first appearance before the Sky Sports cameras in a one on one interview was an eye opener. He was ready, well prepared and honest in explaining precisely how he feels about his early displays. Explaining that he feels it is natural to play at this level is not an easy call without appearing arrogant. Grady sounded humble and that is a really hard trick to pull. Quietly spoken, anyway, it was refreshing to listen to the lad giving his views on his own performance, a job which usually produce a cliche answer along the lines of: “It’s for others to comment – not me.” He has clearly not had masses of media training sessions but that demonstrates the hard work put in at the academy to ensure that he and the rest of them are proper blokes who know how to handle themselves.