It’s safe to say that Dimitri Payet will not be welcome back at West Ham United anytime soon.
Probably never.
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Payet, 29, completed his $31.2 million move from West Ham to Marseille on Sunday, ending the saga which saw the French international playmaker refuse to play for the Hammers at the start of January as he wanted to force through a move away from the London Stadium.
He finally got his wish as the Hammers reluctantly sold their star man, with reports from Sky Sports also stating that West Ham made Payet pay back his wages for January before he moved on.
In a statement released by the club on Monday, co-owner David Sullivan slammed Payet’s actions and revealed he and fellow owner David Gold wanted to let Payet rot in the reserve squad to make an example of him.“The Club would like to place on record its sincere disappointment that Dimitri Payet did not show the same commitment and respect to West Ham United that the Club and fans showed him, particularly when it rewarded him with a lucrative new five-and-half-year deal only last year.
“I would like to make it clear that we have no financial need to sell our best players and that the decision to allow Payet to leave was in accordance with the wishes of the manager and the interests of squad unity. To be frank, my Board and I would have preferred for him to have stayed in order to make an example of him, as no player is bigger than the club.”
What did Payet have to say about all of this?
Well, he was unveiled in Marseille on Monday and stated he felt he had done absolutely nothing wrong over the past few weeks...
“I lived an exceptional year at West Ham, I have a great memory of the fans of the club. Going back to Marseille is a personal choice,” Payet said. “I no longer felt well at West Ham, I needed to return to my roots. Marseille is a very pleasant city to live in.”
In a separate yet connected note, fans of West Ham can now return any jersey with Payet’s name on the back and pay $30 to get a brand new shirt with the name and number of another player on the back. West Ham’s vice-chairman Karren Brady confirmed the offer on Monday.
Morning, bring back your Payet shirt to any of the club shops & you will get a new replacement for £25, full details on WHU web site today. https://t.co/i9BPrS6YG1
— Baroness Karren Brady CBE (@karren_brady) January 30, 2017
It has been widely reported that Payet has taken a pay cut to join Marseille, with the playmaker earning $125,000 a week back at his old club compared to the new $156,000 per week deal (which was for five-and-a-half years) he signed at West Ham just over six months ago.
Payet sent out the message below on Monday as he headed back “home” to Marseille as the French international rejoins the Ligue 1 giants 18 months after leaving and he has reportedly doubled his wages from what they previously where when he joined Marseille from West Ham in the summer of 2015.
On rentre à la maison pic.twitter.com/AcwO3FChYt
— Dimitri Payet (@dimpayet17) January 29, 2017
His legacy and image has been ruined after refusing to play for the Hammers and Payet will not be welcome in east London for many years. There is a way to go about getting a transfer and by refusing to play Payet has tarnished his reputation not only among West Ham fans but the wider soccer community.
If he is truly moving back to Marseille for family reasons then that is understandable. Still, he went about securing this transfer in completely the wrong way.