Crystal Palace in Talks to Sign West Ham's Diafra Sakho in Search for New Striker

Crystal Palace are in talks with West Ham over a potential deal for striker Diafra Sakho, Sky Sports have reported.

The Senegalese forward has been linked with a host of Premier League clubs since the opening of the January transfer window, including Newcastle and Everton.

But it appears that Palace have made a move to bring in Sakho, who has fallen out of favour under David Moyes.

The 28-year-old has yet to start for the Hammers in the Premier League, making 14 appearances as a substitute and scoring just twice.

It appears that Sakho is surplus to requirements at West Ham, having struggled with fitness issues and a lack of consistency.

Palace are in need of a striker to provide competition for Christian Benteke, who has underwhelmed as his side's lone striker for much of the campaign.

The Belgian has found the net only once in 16 league games, with midfielder Luka Milivojevic and winger Wilfried Zaha the club's joint top scorers with four goals each.

Sakho would give manager Roy Hodgson another much-need option, after the former England boss bemoaned the number of injuries currently plaguing his squad.

Scott Dann, Joel Ward, Jason Puncheon, Mamadou Sakho, Connor Wickham and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are all absent, and Hodgson has admitted that Palace will be busy in January.

“We’ve been talking about strengthening our squad from about two or three weeks into my time at the club," he said - quoted by the Evening Standard. "We’ve been waiting for the January transfer window to fulfil our wishes and our thoughts.

“That’s become even more vitally important with the amount of injuries we’ve suffered. You could argue that if we wanted three or four, you could argue we should [now be] be looking at six or seven.”