Hammers Look to Portia for Stunning Major Summer Signing!

Well, who would ever have imagined that West Ham would be faced with the dilemma of having to choose whether to allow Dimitri Payet to return to the club? Although you would have to be sceptical, reports suggest that the temperamental talent is considering a return to the Premiership, and even more unexpectedly, to West Ham United!!!

It's 18 months later and Payet is now 31 years old but his recent record at Marseille (15 goals in  46 games) has been as good as that during his time at West Ham (15 goals in 48 games) and in reality Payet's major asset is his close control and passing accuracy rather than his speed. Since his departure, Manny Lanzini has stepped up as the creative force in the hammers midfield but, with Lanzini likely to be out for most of next season, Payet would be the perfect footballing replacement! Marseille have apparently gotten into financial trouble again and selling Payet has been identified as a possible solution.

However, Hammers fans were united in their ire at the manner of Payet's departure that included the Frenchman refusing to play and forcing a cut price return to Marseille. Dubbed 'Le Snake' Payet joined a list of players deemed as traitors by the fans (Ince, Lampard, Defoe) but reports suggest that the Hammers are genuinely examing the possibility of re-signing Payet who was previously contracted until 2021. 

Whether fans can show the mercy that Portia pleaded for in the Merchant of Venice ('the quality of Mercy is not strained etc) remains to be seen but consider this: Apart from Paolo Di Canio, how many genuinely world class players have we had at the club in the last 25 years? Payet is out of the France squad due to injury but if fit would surely be a major attribute for the squad that is amongst the favourites to emerge victorious from the tournament. 

Let's test his commitment by signing him on a one year loan with a view to making that more permanent if we are happy that the relationship can work for both parties?

 

Time to Bring Back Carlton Cole

At 37 years young, Patrice Evra is hardly anything other than a stop gap for West Ham in their growing battle against relegation but the big question has to be why David Moyes is bringing in another left back???

The loss of Arthur Masuaku after the foolish spitting incident at Wigan was a blow but he has already served two of his six game ban and will be ready to return probably just as Evra reaches something like match fitness! Evra has been relatively idle since being sacked by Marseille for assaulting a fan!

Perhaps more importantly, although Arthur has been very naughty, he has also been one of the best players for us all season and should be welcomed back - where will that leave old man Evra?

The January transfer window really is no place to go looking for major solutions to squad issues as it is almost invariably a place where clubs squander cash on damaged goods in panic purchases. It's really hard to see what Evra will bring other than a distraction for the increasingly discontent fanbase.

More importantly, rather than a left back we need an attacking midfielder and a striker. With our flanks 'protected by Evra and Zabaleta we surely have the oldest defence in the Premiership?

Just a thought but 'long past it' Carlton Cole is actually 3 years younger than Evra! Similarly, Ex-Hammer and Sideshow-Bob lookalike, Alessandro Diamanti, is also a free agent and a mere 34 years old.

Hmmm. We really seem to be going backwards...

Were Marseille Eastended in Payet Transfer?

Olympic Marseille seemed to have picked up a bargain when they snapped up Dimitri Payet from West Ham for a cut-price £25 million during the transfer window. Having in no way influenced the player before his one man strike, both club and player looked smug as they released pictures of him undergoing a medical having returned home the hero!

Only a week later and things seem to have turned nasty! Marseille continue to struggle for form and lost 1-0 to lowly Metz on Friday night. So unimpressed with Mr Payet were the footy afficionados at L'Equipe that they posted a derogatory cartoon of him with a pudgy pudding belly! Some fans have even suggested that we have sent them Benni McCarthy renamed as 'Gimi a Pie-Eh?' instead of the lithe midfield talisman!

We have translated the piece which is a low hit and suggests that Dimitri may have gotten overly fond of his Pie n Mash while training with the development squad during his want-away strike campaign.

Meanwhile, the Hammers are playing with a Joie de Vive that was visibly absent before Payet's departure and look more solid with Snodgrass' huge work rate to compliment his creativity. The elder statesmen of the team have stepped up their game and suddenly Andy Carroll and Winston Reid look like the leaders we have been lacking in the 'get the ball to Dimitri' game plan we were using up until now.

It sure is a funny old world - especially when you are talking about team sports!

COYI!!!

French Turn Against Pie-eh? Already

Roughly translated as 'who ate all the puddings'

Mon Dieu! Poor old Dimitri Payet - we promised not to mention him again but it's just too damn juicy to pass on the fact that having returned 'home' to France, he now finds that the media are mocking him because of his ...ahem....portly demeanour!

As the major sports publication en France, L'Equipe played a major role in the whole dastardly betrayal of West Ham, but has shown it's colours with a hurtful cartoon in today's paper - accusing poor old Dimitri of eating too much pudding during his time away!

Clearly they haven't even bothered to research the preferred diet of the East End region and at no point mention the local delicacy of pie n mash!

Payet has yet to play a full game for Marseille and after two substitute appearances has had little useful impact and Marseille remain stuck just above mid table in Ligue 1.

Training with the West Ham crew

If he flops at Marseille then we can be sure that there will be loads of clubs happy to take him on at a cut price, but neither St Etienne nor West Ham are likely to be in the queue for the jellied little eel!

Here's What Happened the Last Time Payet Went on Strike

During his time at St Etienne Dimitri Payet was at different periods both a hero and villain. As a potent creative force he was loved by the fans but the relationship was not without ups and downs. He fell out with the club after an altercation with team captain Blaise Matuidi during a game they were losing against Toulouse in 2010 – Matuidi and another team-mate confronted Payet for lacking passion and commitment! Payet expressed his annoyance by striking Matuidi and had to be substituted after just half an hour of the game!

Things became complicated again during the  2010-11 season. Payet began the year in top form scoring seven goals in the first two months of domestic play and by the end of September St Etienne went top of Ligue 1 after a Payet-inspired victory over their big rivals Lyon. Not surprisingly, Payet earned the French League Player of the month nad everything seemed rosy in the garden.

Then the January transfer window opened. As the interest mounted from top Premiership clubs and PSG, Payet put in a transfer request which St Etienne refused. In an interview, Payet claimed that he was the element that would progress PSG to a higher level in Europe (sounds just like his December interview where he claimed to be the ‘missing piece’ in Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal project).

He then escalated matters by refusing to train and was punished with a demotion to the club's reserve team – again a familiar train of events!

Guess what happened next?

 

St Etienne held firm and the Transfer window closed.

 

Guess what then happened…

 

Payet relented and over the following ten days made up with the club, returning to play for Saint-Étienne's against Lyon on 12 February. Later, when asked about the affair in an interview, he brushed the whole thing off as merely a matter for the past.

In the following 14 matches of the season Payet delivered five goals and three assists, finishing as St Etienne’s top scorer for the season.

At the end of the season he was let go to League Champions Lille for £6.5 Million.

As they probably say in Marseille: Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!

Payet Latest: Star Looks Set to Stay Until the Summer

The media has been alive with all manner of 'expert' opinions about the Dimitri Payet situation with the majority of observers highly critical of the how the player (and his agent) have dealt with the situation while conceding that West Ham would be better off to get rid of the toxic star.

Ultimately, the ball is now firmly in the club's court as to what they decide to do with Payet - cut and run or hold out for a better deal. It's also still possible that he might return and play until the end of the season just as happened when he staged a similar campaign at St Etienne seeking a high profile move to PSG in January 2011.

So far, the Payet problem has had a galvanising effect at West Ham as the team have played visibly better without him and with back to back wins have essentially ended any relegation fears and solidified Slaven Bilic's place as manager for the foreseeable future.

In the past some fans have been critical of David Sullivan's bullish approach to transfer business accusing him of being overfocused upon getting a good financial bargain rather than the best players. With over 30 strikers having been signed for the club over the past 5 years, only two have really made the grade (Sakho and Carroll) with most of the rest readily forgotten (Jelavic, Emenike, McCarthy, Maiga, Carew, Piquionne etc etc).

However, our fans poll has revealed some fascinating findings about what you think the club should do with Payet!

① By far and away the most popular option (40%) is to hold out for the full £35million asking price and refuse to sell him if the fee isn't met!

② Next most popular is to hold tight until the last day of the transfer window and offload him for the highest bid (26%).

③ Almost one in five (17%) of fans reckon we should take the sadistic option of letting him rot in the reserves until the Summer!

④ 13% reckon we should take Marseille's current cash offer and put it down to experience.

(5) Just 7% believe we should forgive and forget if he apologises and bring him back into the first team squad.

(6) While we believe that our poll has been infiltrated by non-fans with one vote each for 'Offer him more cash' (Probably Peter Odemwingie's vote we reckon) and 'offer the distressed star counselling' (Payet's agent, no doubt!).

Of note, taken together these results imply that two thirds of fans believe Payet should (be made to) stay at the club until the Summer! Only a fool would doubt the wisdom of our fans so we reckon Dimitri is gonna have to stay a Londres for a while longer!

Keep voting - there's three more days to have your say.

COYI!!!

Payet Just Kidding About!

As the Dimitri Payet saga rolls on we now have just a week and a half until the 11PM deadline of the 31st January to sort all the ins and outs. Marseille seem to be happy to hold firm in looking to capture Payet for a mere £22 million which is at best two-thirds his actual value but West Ham are holding out.

Meanwhile, Payet has started  training agin and is with the 'kids' in the development squad in an effort to keep fit. Interestingly, there seems little evidence of the 'injury' that was initially cited as a supporting reason for his not playing, until the 'family not happy' excuse was wheeled out.

As with any controversy, some commentators are looking for a contrarian angle by suggesting that Payet is not to blame and that big bad West Ham are bullying him to stay when he needs to move back to Marseille to save his marriage. In reality, refusing to play for your club is a highly unusual move that is impossible to support. 

Payet's apparent absolute commitment to Marseille is also difficult to fathom as in reality he only spent two seasons there and is remembered with mixed affections by fans. Payet's strike rate at Marseille (15 goals in 83 apps) was much more modest than that since joining West Ham and he certainly did not enjoy the hero status bestowed upon him at West Ham. 

If James Tomkins suddenly expressed an overwhelming desire to return 'home' to his beloved West Ham then it would resonate, but Payet's link with Marseille is much less convincing. It's worth noting that Payet behaved in a very similar way whilst at St Etienne but the club refused to budge and ultimately he returned to action and shrugged off the incident as a minor issue! 

As for the argument that he is accepting a pay cut of £25K per week - in actual fact he would still be earning 40K more than when he left Marseille 18 months ago.  

For now, Payet can wow our kids in the development squad. It's hard to see a return to the first team for him but stranger things have happened (e.g. Jermain Defoe remained at West Ham after his insensitive transfer request in 2003 - albeit only until he became a liability on the pitch by getting himself sent off a few times! 

11 days to go....let's hope our bosses are giving plenty of time to addressing the (many) other issues that need looking at in the transfer window - a striker, another midfielder and more right back cover!

Payet: Players Revolt

Back to the future.

The Dimitri Payet saga took another intriguing twist overnight with news that a delegation of senior players have approached the management on behalf of the squad to indicate that they want a rapid end to the crisis and see no way back for him at the club.

One can presume that the likes of Mark Noble and Andy Carroll are well represented by the delegation after their comments reported in the media this week.

SuperSlav and the board may be feeling a little red-cheeked as they have perhaps pandered to the player too much by repeatedly singling him out as a special talent and paying the much criticised 'loyalty' bonus of a reported £1 million only a few months back.

However, Colin the Contrarian, VERYWESTHAM's narky politics correspondent reckons there is more to this press release in the Times than meets the eye.
Big Colin reckons that it will pave the way for the club to take a U-turn on their absolute position of not selling him in January that has been the mantra of Mr Sullivan so far in this campaign.

West ham will likely claim that they are merely going along with the wishes of the squad by accepting the £22 million or thereabouts that Marseille have offered.

From a business perspective that's more than double the £10 million West Ham paid for Payet in 2015.

And presumably he will refund the loyalty bonus!

One wonders if that cash might be used as a fund to remove his name from the jerseys of fans who thought he was going to stay for something close to the five years he was contracted to?

Dimi: The Dog Ate My Contract

Hmmmm. One wonders who exactly Dimitri Payet's advisers think they are fooling with his latest half baked excuse for wanting to leave West Ham. Last weekend he tried the old 'I'm injured' trick but nobody wanted to listen after he made a pretty clear statement of not playing for West Ham again.

Today it's moved to the 'wife's not happy' AKA 'I can't come out 'cos the wife's in a strop' excuse frequently used by men who don't fancy meeting up with their mates for Tuesday night darts etc.

At this rate the old gem of 'the dog ate my homework.....(sorry) contract' should be wheeled out by tomorrow.

Hammers fans deserve more than these feeble excuses which are a lame attempt at damage limitation. What's the bets that Payet will yet be courted by Arsenal / Chelsea / PSG? One suspects he won't be injured or homesick for Marseille by then.





 

Payet Finds Unexpected Ally as Negotiations Continue

As the full extent of the Payet betrayal hits home it has become apparent that he has no friends to turn to - except perhaps Michael Gove and the guys down the 'two-faced traitor' support group. At this stage West Ham are into damage limitation mode and trying to salvage the best possible. In reality, it's VERY hard to see Payet ever playing for the club again - even with his neck!

As such, maybe it's time that West Ham opened the bidding to more than just Marseille. While there is no evidence (yet) that he has been unduly influenced by any other club, it's hard not to notice that his trip back to Marseille for a 'friendly' match seems to have triggered his sudden extreme determination to leave.

All soon to be betrayed

Now that he is so unsettled maybe we just need to try to squeeze as much as we can for the want-away player. It's no time at all since a host of Europe's richest clubs wanted Payet's attentions and one senses that if West Ham give the green light that a host of potential suitors are likely to come out of the woodwork.



As things stand, it looks like the Hammers are being corralled into dealing with a single bidder (Marseille) who are looking for Payet at a budget price. With the canny Sullivan and Gold in the middle of things, you sense there's a lot more in this saga yet!