West Ham have delivered an official statement clarifying the Dimitri Payet contract position following a report in the Mail on Sunday.

Under the headline:  West Ham’s £1m loyalty payment to Dimitri Payet one of the reasons behind HMRC’s football club raids the newspaper reported that “a controversial £1 million loyalty payment to France midfielder Dimitri Payet by West Ham was one trigger for last week’s raids by the taxman on football clubs.”

And it adds: “A source close to the investigation into West Ham and Newcastle told The Mail on Sunday that HMRC are concentrating on image rights connected with mainly foreign signings, as well as payments to agents.

But the club immediately responded with its own statement on the official site saying:

1/’Dimitri Payet had a £1m annual loyalty payment, which was detailed in his contract submitted to the Premier League and The FA.

Payment was made via his normal monthly pay and subject to 45 per cent income tax and National Insurance, which was deducted at source and was paid to his UK bank account along with his normal monthly wages. There is nothing to probe about this payment.’

2/ In contrast to many Premier League clubs, not a single West Ham United player has any part of his salary paid as image rights.