Dimitri Payet’s enchanting spell at West Ham and his bitter exit feels like a long time ago now.
But the Frenchman will not forget a dramatic 18 months in East London which saw fans take to him as a cult hero before he pushed through a controversial transfer away.
Payet signed with Marseille in 2017, where he remains, at the age of 33.
He has been talking about his current role with the Ligue 1 club, and brought up a problem he had with how he was handled at West Ham.
In an interview with a Reunion based newspaper, Payet said that he is under more pressure at Marseille, and he enjoys it.
He said that he was not pushed hard enough at West Ham, and this contributed to his decision to quit the Premier League club.
Payet’s view
He said: “It’s something that I wear constantly [pressure]. This is also why I returned to Marseille.
“West Ham is a popular but modest Premier League club. When I was not good, nobody fell on me. Here, this is not the case.
“You can’t fall asleep on your laurels. Even when I’m good and the team wins, you can always fault my performance.”
Part of the problem for West Ham was that he began to outgrow the club after his starring role for France at Euro 2016.
He became unsettled and agitated for a departure, and manager at the time Slaven Bilic will have felt that by criticising him, he would make the winger more determined to leave.
West Ham have since moved on, and the bitterness caused by his departure is gradually fading.
The memories of his wonder goals and incredible free-kicks live on, and deserve to still be remembered fondly.
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