Dimitri Payet
Former Hammer Dimitri Payet says he wasn’t pushed hard enough at West Ham.
An interview with Reunion based newspaper, Payet said that he is under more pressure at Marseille, and he enjoys it better.
He said that he was not pushed hard enough at West Ham, and this contributed to his decision to quit the Hammers in 2017 under Slaven Bilic.
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.”
Payet has hit the headlines in recent days as he refused to take a 20% pay cut from Marseille.
Payet has claimed that taking into account the needs of his family was behind his decision not to take a pay cut
The Marseille star earns £100,000-a-week in a deal lasting to 2022.
Marseille have had financial issues to contend with during the current health crisis, having reduced the staff pay by 30 per cent during this period
But Payet has stood by his decision to collect a full salary, with the French league having already been declared finished back in April.
‘Everyone has had their say on this matter,’ he told Le Journal de l’ile de La Reunion.
‘My position was clear and obvious. The player that I am is also the father of a family. Like everyone, I have significant financial outlays to maintain, and engagements to keep.
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It may be difficult to remember given his current form, but whenever I heard Tony Gale commentating on a WHU match he would emphasize that in his opinion Manuel Lanzini was a better player than Payet
His comments on WHU compare strangely with those of the much maligned Jermain Defoe who to my knowledge has never said a bad thing about the club since he left