West Ham United striker Diafra Sakho says he and his teammates will strive to bring European football to the club ahead of the Hammers’ move to the Olympic Stadium.

The Irons will leave the Boleyn Ground, their home for more than 100 years, at the end of the 2015/16 campaign.

Work continues at pace on turning the Olympic Stadium into West Ham’s new home and Sakho hopes the players can do their bit by helping the club secure a European place at the end of next season.

He told the Irons’ website: “It’s the club’s objective at the moment to play European football at the new stadium.

“We as players are here to make that happen. We’ll give it our all in the next year to get there.”

Since arriving at the club in the summer, Sakho has quickly endeared himself to the West Ham supporters.

He has struck 12 times in all competitions and has set his sights on achieving two goal-scoring landmarks at the club.

“I hope to score the last goal at Upton Park as well and then the first one here [at the Olympic Stadium],” he said.

“You have to be ambitious. We play for West Ham, if we’re not ambitious, we won’t be playing at the new stadium.”

The Senegalese international added: “I can’t even imagine it [playing at the Olympic Stadium]. It’s going to be something unforgettable. The first day that we step out there, we’re going to feel that we’ve really gone to a new level.

“To go from 35,000 to 54,000 is massive. I think season tickets are going to go very quickly this year, that’s for sure.”

Sakho’s teammate Winston Reid echoed the striker’s comments. The New Zealand defender believes moving to the Olympic Stadium will allow the Hammers to step up to “a new level”.

“I can envisage myself playing here in 18 months’ time,” he told the Hammers’ website. “We’ll be eager to get on with it and playing in front of 54,000 West Ham fans will be amazing.

“Even now it’s really good, but this will take the club to a new level and take the team to a new level as well hopefully.

“Getting a better and bigger stadium will improve us. It’s definitely exciting times ahead.”

He added: “A lot’s changed since I was last here 18 months ago. There’s no grass on the pitch, but when you look around they’re towards finishing the stadium so it’s exciting.

“You can see there have been improvements made, and I’m looking forward to eventually coming in here and playing a game.

“The roof looks impressive, as does everything they’ve done so far and the people are working all around the day to make it an amazing place.”

The Hammers return to Premier League duty this weekend and travel to strugglers Leicester City on Saturday.

West Ham had several players away during the international break.

James Collins started Wales’ vital 3-0 European Championship qualifier win in Israel on Saturday while Cheikhou Kouyate played the full 90 minutes as Senegal beat Ghana 2-1 away from home in a friendly.

Carl Jenkinson, who is on loan at West Ham from Arsenal, created two goals as England Under-21s defeated Germany Under-21s 3-2 on Monday night.

He also played 29 minutes of the Young Lions’ 1-0 win over Czech Republic on Friday.

Reid didn’t feature for New Zealand on Tuesday night as they were beaten 1-0 by South Korea.

Youngster Sean Maguire came off the bench to win his first Under-21 cap as the Republic of Ireland beat Andorra 1-0 in their opening qualifier for the 2017 Championships on Thursday.

On the same night, Reece Oxford was introduced as a substitute as England Under-17s completed their qualification campaign with a 2-1 win over Romania.