It’s probably time for West Ham and Diafra Sakho to part company.

There is no doubt that the Senegalese striker has been been more hit than miss since Sam Allardyce signed him in 2014, but within the last six months or so, his body language, his off the field problems and his social media rants have clearly had an effect on the African, and maybe it’s best for both sides that he finds pastures new.

West Ham have had their money’s worth out of the striker and Bilic used him and favoured the player with his new formation. The £4m acquisition from Metz was money well spent and the Hammers will look to recoup at least three times that when he is eventually sold on.

Sakho had a storming first season in England following his move from the French side, scoring 12 times in 26 appearances, but in 2015/16 he was weighed down by injury and netted just seven goals from 24 games.

For a club like West Ham, an ambitious one, looking to compete and challenge year after year and become more high profile, the club will feel that it doesn’t need the kind of press that Sakho brought to its gates.

A four letter rant on social media back in April before the home game with Arsenal, did nothing to cement his relationship with Bilic. Having trained on Friday, the Croatian informed Sakho he would on the bench for the Premier League clash, and hours later Sakho failed to report to the team hotel, insisting he was injured.

During the early hours of Saturday morning, Sakho posted a cryptic message on SnapChat. Bilic and West Ham have never done sulking.

Prior to that little episode, the 26-year-old had also had ‘personal’ problems and a strain was beginning to be felt between staff and player, although, let’s be honest, his injuries haven’t helped his game time or his goals tally.

Despite all that has happened with Sakho, he has been a clever buy by the Hammers. Their forays into the depths of French football have started to pay dividends and it is extremely likely that another trip to this year’s hosts of the European Championship will yet yield more under the radar buys.

Desperate for first-team football, Sakho is resigned now to the fact that his future lies elsewhere and has asked Bilic to be sold.Apparently Sunderland have tabled an £11m bid for the forward, but equally West Bromwich Albion are now interested in both Sakho and Valencia.It was entirely possible that Sakho, up until recently, actually wanted to stay at West Ham and to discuss a new contract, but he has had to watch Dimitri Payet and Cheikhou Kouyate sign fresh terms and it seems as though a deal was never on the cards and the player has lost patience.West Ham are certainly a team going places and made their unexpected intentions clear last season. The team raised eyebrows most weeks with their style of play and their results, especially against the so-called ‘bigger’ teams.The club will sell and receive whatever they can for Sakho whilst they move on to bigger and better things. As far as the future is concerned for the Senegalese striker, wherever he goes, he will always be a decent striker… but a player prone to a little sulk.[ad_pod id=’playwire’ align=’center’][ad_pod id=’classic-boots’ align=’center’]