Stuart Pearce has come down on the side of chief shareholder David Sullivan over the sale of Grady Diangana to West Brom after the decision was made to sell the player.
At the time of the sale new protests arose which looked likely to develop into a full scale war against the board but in retrospect – always handy – Pearce believes it was good business.
Mark Noble was the most outspoken critic of the move claiming it was wrong and out of order to sell one of our academy products for £18 million.
Since then the manager has agreed to the sale before the deal went ahead.
Diangana – having been on loan at the Hawthorns was then manager Slaven Bilic’s most wanted player and although it didn’t go down at all well at that time a deal at £18 million was finalised.
The player had a very in and out season at the club which was eventually relegated after Slaven was sacked and another former Hammers boss, Sam Allardyce was put in charge.
Now Pearce – talking on TalkSport – per Hammers News claims the right decision was made saying: “Probably looking back at the time now it was astute finance I think.
“You know £18m for a youngster who – I wouldn’t say has been in and out of West Brom’s side – but on occasion he was in and out of the side.
“But that money also has to be invested elsewhere, so if you turned around and said it’s gone towards a loan fee of Jesse (Lingard), it’s gone towards Craig Dawson coming in to the football club as well.
“(Vladimir) Coufal coming in – (Tomas) Soucek – (Benrahma too), yep. And the impact these players make as well.
“The financial side of all clubs – and especially the climate we’re in at the moment with no crowds and stuff like that – clubs have got to be very cautious financially.”
man comes down on the side of his current employer shocker!
He’s hardly going to say it a bad decision is he?
To un-muddy the waters with this irrelevant talk of other players coming in.
Look at it like this:
In one transfer window we sold a winger, (diangana)
and bought a winger (benhrama)
We paid more than we recieved for an older player with less PL experience (0)
Had Diangana stayed, would he have had more or less or the same impact on the season than Benhrama had?
Lets face it if he had the same limited impact as benhrama did, there would probably be calls to sell him by now 🙂
Not writing off Benrhama at all, but currently you cant say it was good business to sell. After next season it will be clear.
Could have said nothing couldn’t he shocker LOL. I note Psycho included a few other sales as well. Just opinions mate
So it WAS Sullivan’s decision to sell Grady, not Moyes’?
Board makes the sale presumably on Moyes recommendations and the manager has already said he agreed any way
Grady Diangana was more than happy to get away. We were never going to build a team around him. So, in retrospect, Stuart calls it correctly. No point in nitpicking and getting angry about the way we ‘dump’ the Frank Lampards of this world. West Ham and all involved in the management of the club are doing a terrific job. Maybe should have bought Wilfried Bony instead of Andy Carroll. Definitely shouldn’t have allowed Dean Ashton to go to England training to be terminally damaged by Wright-Philips. These things happen. Nothing is ever perfect. Well done Stuart and the boys. Nice piece, Hughie.
COYI
Absolutely – most are pretty good at nit picking but what’s the point? LOL
Never understood the fuss over Grady. He was always too lightweight for the premier league.
I guess the fuss wasn’t specifically about the player. Just fans frustrated at the lack of perceived quality signings.
I seem to recall the jury was out as to whether Diangana or Nathan Holland should be given a run out on the left before Grady’s initial loan spell at WBA.
Let’s hope Holland does realise his full potential, either at West Ham or another top team.