Di Canio pushed into second place by current Irons striker
And stats released on the official site show the Sengalese striker has the best strike rate of any Irons front man in Premier League history.
It reveals that Sak has scored 17 top-flight goals in just 3,566 minutes of football – one goal every 209.76 minutes or 2.33 Premier League matches.
That puts him ahead Paolo Di Canio, whose 48 goals make him the Hammers’ all-time leading Premier League scorer.
PDC’s goals were spread across 10,098 minutes, meaning the Italian found the net once every 210.38 minutes – or 2.34 matches.
And Cottee declares: “In my opinion Diafra Sakho is the best all-round striker at West Ham. In Andy Carroll you have a forward who is excellent in the air and in physical duels, and Chicharito is undoubtedly the best finisher at the club but I’ve said before, and I stick by it, that Sakho is the side’s best, all-round striker.”
“The lad can do it all. He can run, he can head the ball, he can battle and he is a great finisher. The statistics show his incredible record but you don’t need numbers to see what a good player he is.”
He added: “I want to see Sakho in the team, but I also want to see Chicharito and Carroll in the starting XI as well. It gives Slaven Bilic a headache that he’s not really had before, because he has three quality strikers to fit into his team. It’s a nice decision to have to make.”