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Out of nowhere, when it seemed he was actually ready and fit to produce in his final contract year with West Ham, Diafra Sakho left the Hammers to go to Ligue 1 side Rennes Wednesday morning.
Making the move very puzzling is that it goes against how both West Ham owners, David Sullivan and David Gold, thought Sakho would actually play a key part this season with the club last month.
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Making it even more puzzling is, despite Javier Hernandez being brought in and Andy Carroll still with the side, that Sakho had overcome many thoughts that he had played his last game for West Ham and was ready to play again for manager Slaven Bilic. And indeed that was the case, as Sakho participated in all four games this season and scored vs Cheltenham United in the EFL Cup victory last week.
Again, before the Davids comments in late July, this move wouldn’t have been surprising. In fact, it was the thing that most West Ham fans were sure about. That Diafra Sakho was going to another club in the early part of the summer.
But even with the return of Carroll to join Hernandez as the first two striker options, Sakho was discussed by the Davids of being in the plans this season. And it turned out, he has firmly been in the plans! And though the case can be made that Sakho has gotten game time this season only because of West Ham showing potential suiters of his that he is physically fine again (and in the case it worked with Rennes deciding to try purchasing him), it still represents some major instability in the club right now after the nightmare start to the season.
And with West Ham still not sure if they want him to leave, at least to Rennes....
Crystal Palace have made £10m bid for West Ham forward Diafra Sakho. He's in France after passing Rennes medical
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) August 30, 2017
....This is still an on going mess:
Diafra Sakho has passed Rennes medical. Up to West Ham to decide if they want to sell him now. Personal terms being discussed with Rennes
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) August 30, 2017
Update: Especially when David Gold tweets something like this:
Diafra Sakho is not for sale in this transfer window he is an integral part of our first team squad and will play a part in our recovery. dg pic.twitter.com/wtBNB8H2D5
— David Gold (@davidgold) August 30, 2017