West Brom favourite on 'most frustrating' Baggies player and makes Matheus Pereira point
Former Albion midfielder and commentator Andy Johnson has labelled the exiting Grady Diangana one of the most 'frustrating' players to wear Baggies colours due to his talent.
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Attacker Diangana, 27, will exit The Hawthorns next month at the end of his contract five years after the club parted with £18million to bring him from West Ham following a successful loan.
He leads the exits of three senior squad members including Semi Ajayi and John Swift at the end of their deals.
Diangana, a DR Congo international, has remained largely popular with Baggies supporters but proven equally frustrating as performances have been laced with inconsistency and left the winger in and out of the side in recent years.
"Grady is probably the most frustrating player I've ever seen in an Albion shirt," former Albion and Wales midfielder Johnson told the Express & Star.
"That kid can do things with a football I and most of us can only ever dream of doing, but we don't see it enough."
Including his 2019/20 loan spell during the promotion-winning campaign under Slaven Bilic, Diangana fired 26 goals and provided 22 assists at Albion.
His best seasons with the Baggies came during his initial loan - eight goals and seven assists - and 2023/24 under Carlos Corberan, with seven goals and eight assists.
Johnson, the club's matchday co-commentator, related Diangana's form in his loan season to that of former team-mate Matheus Pereira, the talented Brazilian playmaker whose loan was also made permanent in 2020.
I think when Pereira we saw him (Diangana) leave at a similar time. He has not been at it," Johnson added.
"We've all wanted him to and for years we've all seen him score a goal and thought he might be back, but then he wasn't again. He and Pereira had an unreal sixth-sense together, it was like their show.
"This is a player who signed from West Ham and Mark Noble kicked up a right fuss. You could see why in the early days.
"But when Pereira left, Grady left as well and he's not quite been at the races.
"Don't get me wrong, he's a smashing, lovely guy - lovely guys don't get you promoted and that's what we want."
Former Baggies favourite Pereira left for Saudi side Al Hilal in 2021 after relegation from the Premier League. He went out on loan to Cruzeiro in his homeland before a permanent move last year.
He won his first and only cap for Brazil last October.
