Senegal officials hope to prevent injured Diafra Sakho playing for West Ham during the three-week-long Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

Forward Sakho, 25, is out with a back injury, with a senior Senegal official accusing the Premier League side of a "lack of respect" over his withdrawal.

The 2002 runners-up wanted to assess the player's injury themselves.

"We're going to Fifa and the English FA," Senegal Football Federation president Augustin Senghor.

Speaking to the Senegal Press Agency, Senghor added: "Obviously, West Ham have shown a lack of respect in waiting until the last minute before alerting us to Sakho's unavailability for six weeks and even his inability to travel by plane to come and join the squad."

Sakho had been due to arrive in Dakar on Tuesday for Senegal medics to assess his recurring back problem.

But the player's agent said he had been advised against travelling.

Sakho missed three Premier League games after suffering a back injury just before Senegal's final Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Botswana, which forced him to pull out of that match.

Hammers boss Sam Allardyce was critical of Senegal's handling of the player at the time, describing it as "outrageous".

Sakho will be replaced by Pape Moussa Konate, 21, who plays for Sion in Switzerland, at the tournament in Equatorial Guinea.

It starts on 17 January and runs until 8 February.

West Ham, seventh in the table, have four Premier League games and at least one FA Cup replay during the course of the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Hammers said Allardyce is expected to address the issue in his scheduled news conference on Friday.

Readers Comment

• kimco 9 years ago

  sighhhh....unpatriotic african players we have these days. next tym they will come begging when their fame have gone down....ala demba ba