It happened in 2019, and it almost occurred again – but mercifully didn’t – in 2020. West Brom have had plenty of success in borrowing young, exciting players from the Premier League on loan moves in recent years, but with those sorts of moves comes the risk that a young player might perform so well that it prompts their parent club to consider a recall.
In 2019, Harvey Barnes was summoned back to Leicester City by the desperate Claude Puel in a bid to reverse the form and save his job. Barnes was electric in the first half of that season under Darren Moore, scoring nine goals and creating eight more in just 28 appearances, before he was cruelly taken off their hands. Puel was sacked anyway in the February following.
A year later, Grady Diangana was that player. He had five goals and six assists before Christmas, and David Moyes was all set to recall him back to West Ham United, only for the winger to suffer an injury at Birmingham in December, and then a recurrence in the middle of January against Stoke City. That made Moyes’ mind up – Diangana would stay and, eventually inspire Albion in Project Restart to promotion.
