West Ham United’s director of player recruitment has 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 Tony Henry sent an email to another senior West Ham official and an agent explaining that the club “do not want any more Africans”.

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.

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.

West Ham released a statement in response to the incident (Getty)

“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.”

Henry told the newspaper his comments were not a slight on African players and that the “likes of Sakho had caused mayhem”.

Diafra Sakho in action for West Ham (Getty)

“All I said was, look, we have a great lad in (Cheikhou) Kouyate, he’s brilliant, a great player for us, he’s a good lad,” he added.

“But the likes of Sakho have caused mayhem. When he’s not playing … he always wants a new deal. That’s all it was. It was nothing discriminatory at all.”

West Ham released a statement on Wednesday night which said the club was investigating the incident.

“West Ham United is an inclusive, respectful and diverse football club. Equality is at the heart of our ethos and values,” the statement said.

“We were recently given the opportunity to demonstrate the extent of our firm commitment to these values, which are embedded throughout the Club, with a view to achieving the intermediate level of the Premier League’s equality mark, recognised and supported by Kick it Out.

“We have worked extremely hard over the last 18 months across all areas of the Club and we are confident in our achievements. All West Ham United employees are required to go on equality, diversity and unconscious-bias training as part of our new mandatory training and workforce plan.