Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury sit down to discuss Albion's Grady Diangana - following a pre-season injury set back.
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00:00Grigory Ngana, someone who impressed at times last season. Obviously, we've had the news
00:14of an injury blow. He's going to be out for a number of weeks after picking up an injury
00:17in pre-season. Coxsey, he's an interesting one. His stats were good last season and got
00:26back to somewhere near what Albion fans saw of him in his original loan spell in his first
00:31season. Is it a make or break year for Ngana? He's got one year left on his contract. If
00:36this doesn't go well, it's probably inevitable that Albion will probably lose him for nothing
00:40next summer. How do you see it going? Is it a case of he has to really step up and perform
00:47this year if he's going to be at Albion past 2025?
00:53I think first of all, he had a step up of a season last season, didn't he? I think following
00:59on from the couple before that, which I think had been underwhelming, hadn't they? He hadn't
01:03quite necessarily been a regular, maybe not playing on the side he might have preferred
01:08or stuff like that. The irony, of course, of last season is he spent most of it as a
01:11number 10, playing centrally in that attacking midfield role, almost in a little way reinvented
01:18by Corgram, which was very interesting because you sort of had Grady de Ngana down as a winger,
01:23didn't you? An out-and-out wide player. So, a string to his bow he has sort of developed
01:28in that regard and that's a boost for all involved, I think. The next point I would
01:32say is the injury, the calf injury he's picked up this pre-season is a real blow, a very
01:39serious blow. I mean, look, it's been described as a period of weeks by the club and I'd heard
01:47initial estimations of anything from five weeks up to eight, so more than a month to
01:52kind of two and the club's sort of quashed that by saying he'll be in training before
01:59the start of the Champs season, which is all well and good and that puts it at about four
02:02weeks realistically. However, it's basically the most important time of the season now
02:09for player preparation, for fitness, for building that base fitness and working on everything.
02:15That's why it's a real, real blow and a shame really because I know he didn't have the best
02:20time in the play-offs at the end of last season, did he? But he had a good end to the season
02:24generally, I thought, and a good campaign overall. As you say, his numbers were decent
02:28for goals and assists, the best he'd managed, I think, since the loan way back. So, yeah,
02:34I kind of hoped he would, even without his contract situation in mind, kind of hoped
02:38he'd be able to really work on and build from last season, maybe with a more accurate position
02:43in his head about where he's going to play in a core brand team. And look, that might
02:47still happen. He may still, I don't know, be on the bench of the opening day of the
02:50season if he can make it that well. But there's no doubt he'll sort of be starting behind,
02:56you know, playing a bit of catch-up realistically, you would think, into September, that first
03:00international break because of this. So, it's a shame, look. Yeah, I'll be at St James' Park,
03:05St George's Park soon, aren't they, for their week-long training camp. May well be there
03:11when obviously baggage fans are watching this and, you know, you miss all of that and
03:17all really important stuff in terms of the early season and building that fitness level.
03:21So, just looking into his contract situation, which you're very right to mention, 12 months,
03:26as you say, it's a very interesting one, isn't it? It's a really interesting one.
03:31Grady Deangar is no stranger to speculation regarding his future, I think, for more or
03:36less the whole time he's been at the club, really. He's always sort of had suit, as mentioned,
03:41domestically and abroad. This summer's been no different, albeit a little bit quieter on the
03:46Deangar front. I think he's always seen, perhaps internally and externally, as a player,
03:52because of his age, I think. Good age still, isn't he? Mid-20s. A player of value, you know,
03:56he's got attacking ability, he scores, creates, he's got a value to him. Obviously, we know the
04:01way the West Ham deal was structured, Albion, 12 million, rising up to possibly 18, I think,
04:06and it was staggered, wasn't it, as many are, so Albion still putting towards that,
04:12you know, paying towards that. But he's got a year left now. This is, you know,
04:17his contract's up in 2025, and what do Albion think about how they want to play it? It's a
04:24very interesting one, actually, because I think he's 26 at the moment, Grady, and he's just,
04:31for me, in my mind, absolutely not a player that, come next May, you want to see going for nothing.
04:39He really isn't. I mean, I believe I'm right in saying, is it from January, he can start having
04:43a look around in terms of pre-agreements, pre-contract agreements abroad, I think,
04:47being out of contract. So, that has to be very much on the club's radar, actually, in terms of
04:57what will it be, will they want to offer him a new deal, you know, to sort of safeguard and protect
05:03the club in terms of the asset and the value, because you cannot be letting him walk out of
05:07the Hawthorns for nothing next summer. It would not be good in several senses, really,
05:14not least the business, the calibre of player going and the quality of player. I imagine he's
05:19a fair owner at the Hawthorns, Grady, and obviously the club are working to balance books at the
05:23moment, FFP and all of that, but no, I think if Albin aren't thinking about, look, we want to
05:33secure Grady to a long-term future, and obviously that would mean Grady agreeing to it, then are
05:38they thinking about, let's have a look at what interest is out there in terms of getting some
05:41value for him? I don't know. I haven't heard either way on that, to be honest. The way I see
05:47it is that he certainly was preparing for the new season, obviously, prior to this injury,
05:52little injury setback, so very much wants to keep tabs on over the coming weeks and months,
05:56I think, just how, obviously, he's not alone. Dean Connery is in next summer,
06:01plenty more players out of contract, but he's won because of the age, I think, and because of his
06:05sort of profile around Europe and further afield that the club really have to be aware of.