SAKHO DEAL ENDED UP AS A CAR CRASH
DIAFRA SAKHO arrived in a blaze of goals and left amid claims of a mystery injury after a dispute about a £50,000 appearance bonus and his diminishing first-team opportunities. Somewhere in the middle, there were various on-off transfers, a troublesome back injury and a motoring mishap which ended with his Lamborghini planted in a garden hedge. Three-and-a-half years at West Ham were anything but dull for Sakho and his endgame started before Christmas when
Sportsmail revealed his simmering discontent at being on the fringes of the team. Sakho believed he was being overlooked because a clause in his contract entitled him to a £50,000 appearance bonus whenever he started a Premier League game and £25,000 if he came on as a substitute. West Ham manager David Moyes strenuously denied the accusation, insisting he only picked his teams based on football matters and had never had a cross word with the Senegal international. Sakho, however, was unhappy. He thought he might get more chances when Moyes’s predecessor Slaven Bilic was fired, but became convinced the problem ran deeper when the managers changed and he was still on the bench. Moyes selected a team with no out-and-out striker against Arsenal on December 13 and, having earned a point, stuck with the formula at Stoke three days later. West Ham won 3-0 at Stoke with Sakho coming on to score the third. After positive feedback about his contribution, he expected to start the next game, the Carabao Cup quarterfinal against Arsenal. But he was on the bench again and told friends he wanted to go home. He did not want to play. Sakho was talked into staying with the squad and came on as a sub as Arsenal won 1-0. It would be his last appearance for West Ham. Sakho then reported injured, unable to train because of a cyst on his knee, but passed his medical as he completed an £8million transfer to Rennes last week. On Tuesday, the 28-year-old was fit enough to score on his debut against Paris Saint-Germain. Sakho is a strong-willed and determined character and not easy to manage. He fights his corner and demands respect. If he believes he has been wronged, he will act. He could not resist taking to social media after yesterday’s Sportsmail revelations about West Ham director of player recruitment Tony Henry. There had been reports of clashes with Bilic, which were always denied by the manager, and on several occasions he seemed destined to leave. West Bromwich pulled out of a £16m deal in August 2016 after a back problem showed up on his medical. Eight months earlier, Sakho had smashed his £200,000 Lamborghini Huracan into a garden after colliding with a Mini Cooper in a residential street in Hornchurch, Essex. A witness told MailOnline: ‘We heard it accelerate and then just heard a big bang, like an explosion and a thud — that’s when I walked out. ‘Luckily there was no one about. Luckily no one was hurt.’ He said that he and his daughter recognised Sakho immediately because they both follow West Ham, adding: ‘He’s just a footballer who can’t drive a car. He’s got a toy that he can’t control. They earn a lot of money and I don’t begrudge them the money, but if he wants to drive like that he should be on a racing track.’ It was all a far cry from the frenzy of excitement which accompanied his first few months at West Ham. Signed from Metz in August 2014, the £3.5m fee was hailed the ‘bargain of the year’ as Sakho scored nine goals in his first 11 games. ‘This lad’s very exciting and he’s excited the rest of the players,’ purred then manager Sam Allardyce, with the Hammers in the top four of the Premier League table in October. West Ham fans sang, ‘Diafro Sakho, he scores when he wants’, and he was among the goalscorers in the 3-2 win at home to Manchester United in the final game at Upton Park. They were the best of times for Sakho and West Ham.