Dimitri Payet may have left West Ham under a cloud, but he also helped bring the club one if its most memorable seasons since returning to the Premier League in 2012.
And co-owner David Sullivan, while admitting the Frenchman’s departure was acrimonious, has admitted he has no regrets about signing last season’s player of the year.
Payet completed his £25m return to Marseille this week, just 18 months after leaving the Stade Vélodrome for Upton Park, and Sullivan confirmed the 29-year-old asked to leave for family reasons.
💬 @dimpayet17 expressed his joy of returning to OM during today's press conference. #DimitriEstOlympien pic.twitter.com/eKUattsbIS
— Olympique de Marseille 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@OM_English) January 30, 2017
“What Dimi said to me is that his family hadn’t settled. He wanted to go back to France,” Sullivan told Talksport.
“I don’t regret bringing him to the Club. We finished seventh and a lot of that was down to him. He was Player of the Season last year.
“It’s ended a bit acrimoniously. Life goes on. In the real world you’ve got to see it all in perspective. It’s a damage limitation deal”
A number of West Ham supporters have expressed their outrage with Payet due to the manner of his departure, but Sullivan’s comments – coupled with the fact that the midfielder is thought to have taken a pay-cut to rejoin his former club – should help draw a line under the saga.
The club have already dipped into the transfer market this month, bringing in José Fonte and Robert Snodgrass, and have been linked with a move for Brentford striker Scott Hogan before the window closes tonight.
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