Tony Mowbray hopeful for progress on future talks for West Brom star man

Diangana, 26, lit up The Hawthorns on Mowbray's return to the home dugout with a five-star display in Saturday's 5-1 demolition of Portsmouth.

The DR Congo international scored twice and assisted the other two in a four-goal first half blitz to continue his recent upturn in form.

Diangana is in the final season of his contract at Albion and stated recently the ball is in the Baggies' court when it comes to his future amid speculation of interest from elsewhere.

Mowbray, a huge admirer of the attacker, is keen for him to stay. The boss said: "I would, because he's my type of footballer really. The ball is not a problem for him, he can do whatever he wants.

"He's a good kid, and if he stays in the position where we want him to play to do damage...it seems to be he does. He wants to learn and try to utilise his talent.

"I think there's a good marriage there. I'll support him all the way as long as he understands what his role is."

"Sometimes when you're as talented as Grady, you wander all over the pitch and want everybody to give you the ball. If he's never where he should be when we try to build then it's a problem, there's big gaps and we can't get through.

"But he's shown great discipline in his play, scored some goals and enjoyed his football hopefully."

Diangana was an £18million Albion signing upon promotion to the Premier League in 2020 and Mowbray admits the attacker's lofty wages as one of the club's highest earners could potentially be something that needs to be ironed out.

The club enter the summer with a handful of other first-teamers out of contract, John Swift and Semi Ajayi among them.

Mowbray added:  "I would like to have Grady in our team moving forward, but I don't have a clue how much he earns. It's not right for me to stamp my feet and say 'I want him'.

"He was a big signing, the club were in the Premier League and paid a lot of money for him. I would imagine his salary levels are pretty stretchy for this football club. People might not be happy if I'm demanding we sign him, they might think 'well, he's going to be off the wage bill soon' - they might be, 'then Tony can go to get two or three players for the same cost', maybe.

"But Grady knows how much I care about him, want him and like him. Somewhere down the line we'll make a conversation and hopefully he wants to stay, hopefully the club can get the contract that suits him, his family, his agent, let's wait and see.

"I like talent and he doesn't need to look at the ball, he can do what he wants. He's a special footballer."