West Ham United battered Macclesfield Town 8-0 in the EFL Cup on Wednesday with Grady Diangana the star of the show.
As far as first-team debuts go, you would struggle to find one more impressive than Grady Diangana’s on Wednesday night.
West Ham United sealed their biggest win in 35 years when they hammered Macclesfield 8-0 in the third round of the EFL Cup and there was no doubting the star of the show.
Diangana marked his first appearance for the senior side with two late goals, capping a remarkable performance from the 20-year-old winger in which he also set up Robert Snodgrass’s first-half strike.
Speaking to the Standard after the game, the academy graduate credited two West Ham players for making his dream debut all the more comfortable.
“Ryan Fredericks helped me a lot in the game, as did Robert Snodgrass. They gave me a lot of advice and I appreciate that,” Diangana said.
“The manager (Manuel Pellegrini) also spoke with me. Before the game he told me to keep it simple in the middle third and to express myself in the final third and at half-time he just said, ‘Keep playing the way you are.’”
Fredericks started behind Diangana on the right side and it will have been encouraging for Pellegrini to see his summer signing, who joined on a free from Fulham, link up impressively with his fresh-faced teammate.
Snodgrass, meanwhile, has made a successful career out of lively and creative wing play, so there are certainly worse players for Diangana to learn from.
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