DS reveals how Payet ate alone and talked to nobody

David Sullivan has revealed how Dimi Payet cut himself off entirely from his West Ham team-mates as he began his pursuit of a move back to France.

Speaking to the BBC the co chairman said: “He didn’t talk to any of them for the last six to eight weeks. He would come in to the restaurant area and isolate himself in the corner and eat alone.

“When he finally made it clear he wouldn’t play for us he said that he would have a sore back if we tried to make him and the very next day he had a sore back!!!.”

Sullivan admits that he wasn’t entirely happy with the £25 million fee the club received for him saying: “Marseille came in at 20 million euros which is £18 million but when they reached what we thought we could just about accept we did so.

“It became a damage limitation deal. We thought about sitting him in the reserves until the summer but he could have put on weight and be unfit so not worth what we got for him now.

“It was just about enough for us to accept but it’s not a deal with which  I was particularly happy.”