One of the funniest stories of the transfer window, Diafra Sakho’s trip to Rennes and the racing track, only to be told to come back to West Ham because the Hammers weren’t prepared to sell him will go down in deadline day lore.
While David Gold made it clear on Twitter the Senegalese forward was an integral part of Slaven Bilic’s side for the year, the player clearly had different plans in mind when he decided to have a medical of his own volition.
Furthermore, a tweet from the 30th of August, one everyone appears to have missed, suggests the 27-year-old was actively looking for a way out from London Stadium over the past month or so, as L’Equipe journalist Mathieu Grégoire revealed on his account that Diafra Sakho was offered to Marseille around mid-August.
Diafra Sakho a été proposé à l’#OM mi-août. Ne correspondait pas aux fameuses cases à cocher phocéennes, selon Zubi. #WestHam #Rennes
— Mathieu Grégoire (@Serguei) August 30, 2017
Unfortunately, the striker did not tick all the boxes the Ligue 1 side, through their director of football Andoni Zubizarreta, were looking for, and the chance to sign him was turned down.
Plagued with injuries since his first season at West Ham, Sakho is likely to play backup/alternative to both Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez this season at the London Stadium.
Our guess is the Hammers wanted rid, hence the player searching for another club, but once they saw they couldn’t find anyone else, the tune changed very quickly.
Bear in mind, though, we are quite cynical.
