You hear it all the time. ‘This player is better than that player’. It’s all well and good backing the boys who play for your team, but in some cases, there is often more to it than it first seems. The impact of television packages on the division has been monumental, allowing the lesser clubs to compete in the transfer market like never before. As a result, a whole new calibre of stars have been purchased by mid-table sides.
At the end of the day, this has subsequently allowed a club like West Ham United to purchase a world class player in Dimitri Payet. The Frenchman joined from Marseille for an undisclosed fee, believed to have been around the £13million mark. Inevitably, not everyone is going to agree with the statement in question, but where would football be without opinion? There is a vast difference between stating something and arguing something, and in the next five minutes I’ll prove why Payet is so prominent.
The first thing you have to consider is the definition of world class. A world class footballer is a game-changer. Someone who can give you that unexpected moment of magic within the blink of an eye. This was the type of footballer that West Ham lacked so much under the reign of Sam Allardyce. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Dimitri Payet is a game-changer. He is a goal-scorer, and he is a provider.
His previous records in the French top tier speak for themselves. In the 2010/11 campaign with Saint Etienne, he scored 13 goals as a winger in 28 starts. 2012/13 saw Payet score 12 goals and record 13 assists at Lille. Last season at Marseille, the 28-year-old found the back of the net on seven occasions, in addition to the 16 assists he notched in the South of France. Another sign of a world class player; consistency.
The stats show that it is extremely evident that Payet delivers wherever he is playing his football, a true sign of a world class footballer. He is not a one season wonder, and he does not rely on other players. Whichever club jersey he is wearing, you can expect majestic things from the international. As a result, it is no surprise that despite us only being in early October, Payet already has four goals and three assists in eight Premier League games.
One of the stories of West Ham’s season so far has been their remarkable away victories at the Emirates, Anfield and the Etihad. No club had won at these three grounds in the same season since Manchester United in 2004. Payet has been the reason why we have come out on top in these fixtures. On the opening day of the season, it was his pinpoint accurate cross that found the head of Cheikhou Kouyate. At Anfield, his skill and trickery resulted in Philippe Coutinho being sent off, whilst in Manchester, he found Diafra Sakho who slotted home.
World class footballers do not disappoint in the big games, and this has shown that Payet does not go missing in the important matches, thus further strengthening the argument as to why he is world class. For sure, the likes of Mesut Ozil and Philippe Coutinho are good footballers. But do they perform consistently at the highest level? Evidently not. The only two central attacking midfielders in the Premier League you can put above Payet are David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne, hence why these two Manchester City players are also in the world class bracket.
The final thing to take into account in terms of world class is whether or not a player can win a game on his own. Can this one footballer be the difference between victory and defeat? It is early days in the Premier League, but Payet at home to Newcastle United showed what he is all about. Helping the club to their first home win of the final season at the Boleyn Ground, he scored a brace to settle the nerves at Upton Park and give the Irons the three points. Payet has the individual quality to turn a game on its head.
Of course, this now leaves the topic open for debate. If you disagree with me, you’re disagreeing with the manager too. After the win at home to the Magpies, Hammers manager Slaven Bilic compared Payet to David Silva, and rightfully so. Bilic described him last month as a ‘special player that most clubs in Europe were trying to get’. In that article, the Daily Mirror also have a poll as to whether people would rather have Payet or Silva in their team. And that’s what I’ll leave you with. See how over 20,000 people casted their vote.
