West Ham youngster Grady Diangana can emulate Arsenal legend Santi Cazorla, says Manuel Pellegrini

Bright future | Manuel Pellegrini claims Grady Diangana reminds him of a young Santi Cazorla
Getty Images
Jack Rosser @JackRosser_26 October 2018

West Ham youngster Grady Diangana has the potential to emulate Arsenal legend Santi Cazorla, according to his manager Manuel Pellegrini.

The 20-year-old, who moved to London from DR Congo aged four, joined the Hammers at 12 and first alerted himself to fans with a brace on his first team debut against Macclesfield in the League Cup last month.

Pellegrini has made a point of looking towards the West Ham academy since his arrival. The emergence of Declan Rice over the past two years has given those within the setup that the ‘academy of football’ could well be choking back into life after a lack of graduates over the last decade.

And Pellegrini reserved high praise for one of the most recent graduates. Arriving at Villarreal in 2004, the Chilean was quick to establish Cazorla, who has now surpassed 250 appearances for the club since his recent return, in the first team setup.

And, while hesitant to heap the pressure on Diangana, Pellegrini says – should his desire stack up to his talent – there is no reason he cannot emulate the Spaniard.

“I have worked with so many young players, but maybe when I arrived at Villarreal I was very impressed with Santi Cazorla,” Pellegrini said.

“He was 19-years-old and was not in the first squad, he was with the Under-21s and in that moment he maybe wasn’t considered a top player. But when I saw him play I think that he has, maybe not exactly the same as Diangana but, technical player with a good view of the pitch and with a good solution when they receive the ball.

Early days | Manuel Pellegrini working with Santi Cazorla at Villarreal
AFP/Getty Images

“I think that when you see a player who is 20, you cannot say if he will be a good player or a bad player, he has conditions. But after that the development of his career depends, not all but 90 per cent, on the desire he has to be a top player.”

With the under-23s having been moved from Chadwell Heath to Rush Green by Pellegrini, Diangana has certainly made an impression, with the Chilean turning to him in the first half to replace the injured Andriy Yarmolenko, leaving Michail Antonio on the bench during the derby against Tottenham.

In Pictures | West Ham vs Tottenham | 20/10/2018

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“I trust in him [Diangana] because for me one of the most important thing for me as a player is that when you have the ball, you give the ball to a player in the same colour shirt. If you have red, you must give it to red,” Pellegrini added.

“That is the basic thing for a player and Diangana always starts with that, he loses very few balls during the game and always has a good solution also because every player, when you receive the ball has different solutions, bad or good, he always has the best solution.

“I think that in this season he will be a player in the first squad playing a lot of games.”

Diangana could be set for his first Premier League start this weekend when West Ham, now without Yarmolenko for the season, travel to Leicester in Saturday’s evening kick off.

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