West Ham United suspend head of transfers Tony Henry over comments about signing African players

An email from Henry claimed the club do not like signing African players

West Ham released a statement (Getty)

West Ham director of player recruitment Tony Henry has been suspended “pending a full and thorough investigation” over claims he said the club would not sign any more African players, the Premier League side have announced.

The FA are also investigating after the club's head of transfers left himself open to accusations of racism by reportedly claiming that his club do not want to sign African players because “they can have a bad attitude” and “cause mayhem”.

The Daily Mail on Wednesday reported that Henry sent an email to another senior West Ham official and an agent explaining that the club “do not want any more Africans”.

A statement from West Ham on Thursday morning read: “West Ham United will not tolerate any type of discrimination and has, therefore, acted swiftly due to the serious nature of these claims.

“The West Ham United family is an inclusive one where, regardless of gender, age, ability, race, religion or sexual orientation, everybody feels welcome and included.

“The club will make no further comment until the investigation has been concluded.”

In the email, Henry writes: “We don’t want any more Africans and he’s not good enough. I sent Thomas to watch him and the other lad last week and he said no. If [Crystal] Palace take them good luck.”

Henry was then asked by the Daily Mail if there is an official club policy on signing players from Africa.

Diafra Sakho in action for West Ham (Getty)

He initially replied “no”, only to then change his answer.

“Yeah, because we had three and we felt we didn’t particularly want any more African players,” he explained.

When asked why, he said: “Erm, no reason. It’s nothing racist at all. It’s just sometimes they can have a bad attitude.

“We had problems with Sakho, with Diafra Sakho. We find that when they are not in the team they cause mayhem. It’s nothing against the African race at all.

“I mean, look, there are top African players. There’s not a problem with them. It’s just sometimes they cause a lot of problems when they are not playing, as we had with Diafra. He’s left, so great. It’s nothing personal at all.”