West Ham fans were dealt the worst possible news this morning when Slaven Bilic confirmed that Dimitri Payet wants to leave the club.
The 29-year-old joined the Hammers from Marseille in July 2015 for a reported £10.5m and the Frenchman has made 66 appearances for the club since, scoring 18 goals and tallying 25 assists.
Signing a new contract back in February running until 2021 worth £125,00-a-week making him the highest-paid player in the club’s history, the news has come as quite a shock.
Speaking to the media this morning, Bilic addressed the situation and here’s what he had to say in full.
Twitter: Slaven Bilic’s full interview this morning confirming that Dimitri Payet has refused to play for the club and wants… https://t.co/oS2P7GNEpM (@ReadWestHam)
“I’ve got something for you, to tell you. I have a situation with a player. It is Dimitri Payet. He wants to leave.
“The club, us, as I have said so many times before we don’t to sell him. We have said hundreds of times that we do not want to sell our best players we want to keep them. He’s definitely one of our best players that’s why we gave him such a long contract.
“I informed him of that and he refused to play for us, so, I have a team to manage. He’s probably been tapped up by some clubs or whatever, which is usual in this part of the year or whatever in the transfer window.
“Anyway, until he changes his attitude he’s out of the team. He ain’t going to train with us and I expect from him, because we aren’t going to sell him, no [chance] whatsoever, it’s not the money issue, nothing, we want to keep our best players and I expect from him to come back and show commitment and determination to the team like the team have shown to him.”
The two parties appear to be a clear impasse in their relationship. We’ll wait and see if Payet forces through a move or performs a u-turn on his stance.
