The Diafro Sakho era at West Ham finally comes to an end

It was finally reaching its conclusion, a conclusion that should have came last summer. But now it is official: The Diafra Sakho days at West Ham United are over for good.

The much discussed Senegalese striker has departed the Hammers Monday morning for Ligue 1 side Rennes, the club he seemed destined to go to in the summer before David Gold put the kibosh to that. It was shocking that Gold was desperate and determined to prevent Sakho from exiting West Ham then, after the constant injury issues for the talented forward, the alleged growing tension between him and then manager Slaven Bilic, and the addition of Javier Hernandez.

But Sakho was convinced to stay despite the long jam at his position, and it appeared he would stick around for one more full season. With the injuries problems plaguing Andy Carroll himself, Sakho was slowly getting game action and provided some key moments this season. His late winner against Swansea City was a vital goal that at the time helped Bilic keep his job.

That came off the back of his solid start to the season to earn himself a recall to Senegal’s national team and lead them to the 2018 World Cup.

Still, the writing was going to be on the wall for Sakho’s days at West Ham, particularly when Bilic was replaced by David Moyes. With both Carroll and Hernandez back healthy, and Moyes preferring to use Michail Antonio and Marko Arnautovic as line-leading forward starters over him, both the club and the 28-year-old forward knew that it was time to finally part ways.

The club kept it classy and wished him well on his departure, posting their sentiments on Twitter.

Sakho isn’t on Twitter that much, but it would good to see him give the nod of goodbye right back.