WEST HAM UNITED playmaker Dimitri Payet has informed the club of his desire to leave and no longer wishes to play for them, manager Slaven Bilic revealed this morning.
Payet, 29, joined West Ham from Marseille in 2015 and had a sensational first season, scoring 12 goals and supplying 12 assists.
But with West Ham lying 13th in the Premier League table and amid speculation linking him with a return to Marseille, the France international has decided he wants out.
“We have said we don’t want to sell our best players, but Dimitri Payet does not want to play for us,” Bilic told a press conference.
But he added: “We are not going to sell him.”
Bilic has asked Payet to stay away from training and said he would not feature in Saturday’s home game with Crystal Palace.
Payet is reported to be the top January transfer target for Marseille coach Rudi Garcia, who previously worked with him at Lille between 2011 and 2013.
The Frenchman’s departure would be a major blow to West Ham and their fans, for whom Payet has become a terrace darling.
After a seventh-place finish last season, West Ham have struggled to adapt to life in their new London Stadium home — formerly the Olympic Stadium — and were thrashed 5-0 by Manchester City in the FA Cup last Friday.
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Well done girls, I only saw the first try but fair play, the Aussies made them work hard for it, and it was a great finish after going through so many phases.
Aoife Wafer looks a genuinely world class player. Vancouver will be the test, but this was encouraging overall – just two (identical) costly defensive lapses, which I am sure will be remedied.
Considine gets lots of headlines and is still a fine player, but her experience is greater than her prospects.
The stand-out players is this Irish Squad are all still improving and we haven’t yet seen the best of this team. A few handling errors by Ireland kept the Australians in the game in the first half. But once the substitutes introduced by Ireland on the 52nd minute settled in the Irish dominated the final quarter and, even with two tries Disallowed, the final scoreline flattered the Walleroos.
Really looking forward to seeing how much this Irish team can developed during the Competition in Canada. Possibly only NZ and England will be stronger teams by the end of the series.