So Dimitri Payet as landed himself a new Hammers deal worth over £100,000 a week (for the first year at least) and two camps appear to be arising over the wisdom and ethics of the decision.
There are some who believe that it shows a mercenary attitude and that wages are more important to him than the badge.
I fall into the other camp of those who are pleased we have shown ourselves to be ready to negotiate big as we go for the top.
Nor, sadly do I believe that any arguments regarding loyalty and money is in any way relevant in the football world we now live in.
And for those who believe it was ever different take a look at Matt Dickinson’s great book on Mooro – ‘Bobby Moore – The Man in Full’ – where it is clearly explained that the great man always took the club down to the wire on contracts.
Indeed, on one memorable occasion I remember Bob saying to me when we were discussing the matter of players’ wages for a column under his name: “Club appearances and England caps don’t pay the mortgage do they? You have to do the best for yourself you possibly can.”
Personally I’m very happy that the club has agreed this deal with Payet – and full credit to both sides for doing so very quickly indeed. We didn’t need to live with this and all the rumours of a big club raid on him for months to come.
I believe Dimi Payet is most definitely a £100k a week player and that David Sullivan has agreed it so quickly demonstrates we are a serious club moving up quicker than anyone could have expected.
COYI
I can see both sides of the argument really , if we want the club to progress to the top level then you have to pay the market rate for top players , at least until the time when if we are successful , players will be queuing up to join us . On the other hand i can see why some fans get a bit miffed about the situation with contracts as they seem to have little worth as far as the club is concerned with players seemingly able to decide to move on as it suits them and the club having no apparent power to stop them . Bobby Moore may well have ran his contract down to the wire to get the best deal for himself but i don’t think he was back knocking on the chairman’s door six months after signing one asking for more money !
Still that’s the world we live in today i suppose ,but there will be a lot of angry fans if this all kicks off again in the summer .
I think he has been fair,
He is worth the money if he carries on putting the class performances in on the field,
Money is not going to away and good luck to the working class lads that improve their and their families life’s
At least with Payet we know what the player has to offer rather than take a gamble on an unknown player if Payet left.