PAYET FORCED TO PAY BACK £500K BEFORE LEAVING
HAMMERS INSIST ON DIMI RETURNING JANUARY WAGES AND NOW THEY REMOVE ALL TRACES OF HIM FROM STADIUM
WEST HAM threatened to pull out of the £25million deal to sell Dimitri Payet to Marseille unless the player returned his £500,000 salary for January, it was revealed today.
Last night Payet completed his move back to the club from which he joined West Ham for £10.75million in the summer of 2015. But the London club were prepared to pull the plug on the deal if the France international had not given back his £125,000-a-week wages for the time he has effectively withdrawn his labour by refusing to play.
A club source said Payet had “under protest” returned his salary for January and that it was considered a “deal breaker”.
West Ham have also wasted no time in air-brushing Dimitri Payet out of the club’s branding at their new London Stadium.
A giant mural of Payet alongside his number 27 and lines from a supporters’ song about him — all of which have been guarded by security personnel since he refused to play again for West Ham — have now gone.
In their place is a silhouette image of striker Andy Carroll scoring a spectacular volleyed goal against Crystal Palace recently, plus fans’ tweeted reaction to the goal.
A giant shirt bearing Payet’s name and squad number, which is above the concourse inside the stadium, is also being replaced by a similar shirt, bear- ing the words “Claret and Blue Army”, plus the No12, although it was not certain today whether this would be done before Wednesday’s Premier League encounter against Manchester City.
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan, meanwhile, has confirmed that he was prepared to make an example of the player, following his decision to down tools after being initially refused a transfer back to Marseille.
“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,” said Sullivan in a club statement.
“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.
“I am confident that with the quality of the players we have brought in during January already, the squad will be stronger at the end of this transfer window than it was at the start. We look forward to building on our recent good run of form as we focus on continuing our rise up the Premier League.”
West Ham now look likely, following the Payet deal, to sign Brentford striker Scott Hogan for £12m before tomorrow’s transfer deadline.