Just months after helping Liverpool into the semi-finals of last season’s Europa League, Mamadou Sakho is persona non grata at Anfield.
The French defender scored his last Reds goal in the dramatic quarter-final win over Borussia Dortmund, but a drug ban controversy and an apparent falling-out with Jürgen Klopp have meant he has not turned out for the first team since April.
In fact, there was a spell when he wasn’t even getting a look-in for the Under-23s.
But Sakho could be about to be handed an escape route, as it has emerged that West Ham United are keen to recruit the former PSG man…among a wish-list of countless other unwanted defenders from top clubs.
West Ham are taking action after injuries to defenders such as James Collins (photo credit: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
The Daily Telegraph reports that the London club have sent a letter to several top Premier League clubs, essentially asking if they have any defenders going spare.
West Ham are without injury victim Sam Byram for an unspecified amount of time, while James Collins and Reece Oxford have also been sidelined and summer recruits Álvaro Arbeloa and Arthur Masuaku have disappointed when given a chance in the first team.
Other players reportedly on their radar include Branislav Ivanović, Mathieu Debuchy and former Hammers loanee Carl Jenkinson.
At the other end of the pitch, Slaven Bilić’s team are understood to have made loan enquiries over Manchester United forwards Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, though there are no suggestions that José Mourinho has any plans to part ways with the duo.
