West Ham transfers: Allardyce urges disgruntled Diarra to fight for place

Sam Allardyce has encouraged disgruntled West Ham midfielder Alou Diarra to knuckle down and fight for his first-team place after the midfielder expressed his unhappiness at Upton Park.

The 31-year-old was reported to have told L’Equipe that he had “wasted his time” moving to the Hammers after joining the east London side from Marseille on a three-year deal in the summer.

West Ham boss Allardyce says that the France international has struggled to adapt to the English top flight due to injuries and admits that the move “hasn’t quite worked out”.

“He is obviously clear, without telling me, that he is not happy with the situation, which is understandable,” Alladyce said.

“You get this all the time as a manager when you bring a player of his experience and calibre over from France.

“It hasn’t quite worked out and he feels a little disgruntled in terms of playing more, this or that.

“It is a fact of life, whereas I look at the situation and play what I consider the best team and because of Alou’s long-standing injury he has found it hard to adjust to what is needed in the Premier League.

“If he is unhappy, he just has to tell me what he wants to do and we’ll see how we go from there. We’ll have that discussion and we’ll make a decision after that on the future of Alou.”

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Read more on: alou diarra, Football transfers, marseille, Premier League, sam allardyce, west ham.