#4 West Ham taking time with Payet
It was the opinion of practically every Hammers fan but, unfortunately for them, not one shared by the board – to sell Payet the second he asked to leave. Despite the Frenchman’s exceptional impact on the London club’s performances over the past two years, he was evidently desperate to return to Marseille for personal reasons and the move should’ve gone through much sooner than it did.
Whilst co-chairmen Gold and Sullivan held out for a bigger fee than Marseille were originally offering, claiming they would not be “bullied” into a sale, Bilic had to drop Payet altogether and witness his side stare down the barrel at harrowing defeats towards the end of December and start of January. It resulted in the club waiting until deadline day to accept an offer only £10 million superior to the original bid launched at the beginning of the window.
Also read: 'I used to p*** people off when I wanted' - The story of flawed genius Dimitri Payet
Ultimately, had West Ham cashed in early, knowing that the player was categorically not playing for the team again because he wanted a return to France, they would’ve had more time to find a replacement. Payet has created more chances than any other West Ham player this campaign with 72, more than 40 greater than the next highest total, so he’ll undoubtedly leave a gap. Robert Snodgrass appears more as a ‘panic-buy’ type player, more suited to the out-and-out wide position as opposed to Payet’s number-ten role.
