Dimitri Payet forced to pay West Ham £500k as fans offered chance to swap old shirts

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The fall-out from Dimitri Payet’s exit from West Ham United continues despite the fact that the Frenchman completed his move to Marseille on Monday.

According to Sky Sports, the Hammers forced the Frenchman to pay back his January salary after informing boss Slaven Bilic that he no longer wished to play for the club.

In turn, that resulted in him being dropped from the first-team squad as he trained with the youth team, and it appears as though his decision has hit him in the pocket.

Payet was believed to be on £125,000-a-week at the London Stadium, and so his stance to not play for the club has cost him £500,000, as per the report.

That will probably matter to him little now as he has finally had his wish granted following a £25m return to Marseille, but this messy situation looks far from concluded.

Chairman David Sullivan slammed the French international in an official club statement on Monday morning, and now vice-chairman Karren Brady has taken to Twitter to announce that the club will accept all Payet shirts bought by supporters and replace them with new jerseys for £25.

Meanwhile, the 29-year-old has now had his say on the matter after being officially unveiled by Marseille, and hit back at critics of his behaviour while insisting that he will hold special memories of the West Ham faithful regardless of how the end of his time at the club played out.

“I will always have a beautiful memory of the West Ham supporters. I had a great year there,” he said, as reported by Sky Sports.

“I needed to come back to France to Marseille – it was a personal choice. I don’t need to justify my behaviour. I spoke to Slaven Bilic. I don’t want to talk about this at the moment.”

While there is still clearly bitterness on the West Ham side, all parties will be relieved that the situation is now resolved and they can move on.

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