West Ham’s Grady Diangana: ‘I feel I can go out there and express myself’

The young winger says time spent alone in the park growing up has helped him make an exciting start to his career

Grady Diangana is weighing up the issue of discipline in walking football. Specifically, and this happens quite often, when players break out into a run. “It’s because you’ve got that temptation in you,” he says. “Even sometimes when the ball is ahead of you, you want to have a run. It’s really hard not to.” But still, it’s against the spirit of the game, so should runners be sent off? “Er … no! I think they should be given a caution.”

Diangana has witnessed a lot of infractions in walking football. He will likely be exposed to many more. The West Ham United youngster, who has won the affection of the London Stadium support since breaking into the first team this season, has taken on a role as ambassador for the club’s participation programme, which includes walking football, a sport played largely by the over-50s.

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