Dimitri Payet has confirmed he will be a West Ham player next season.
France’s man-of-the-moment had been heavily linked with a move to Chelsea or even Real Madrid, but he has delighted Hammers fans by telling the Sun he is definitely staying in East London.
“I love West Ham. We had a fantastic season and I can’t wait to play in the Olympic Stadium,” he said.
“I’m 100 per cent staying at West Ham, I love the club. I can tell the Hammers fans that.”
Although several of Europe’s biggest clubs were reportedly interested in securing his signature, it’s not that surprising that Payet has committed his future – at least verbally – to Slaven Bilic’s side, with a Europa League campaign, and maybe more, to look forward to next season.
Payet lit up the group stages of Euro 2016 and while he struggled to rediscover that form in the latter stages of the competition, he still earned himself a spot in UEFA’s Team of the Tournament.
The free-kick specialist has come to prominence relatively late in his career, emerging as a Premier League star at the age of 29.
Ordinarily, that would bring his value down, but the general consensus on Payet is that the best is yet to come – and West Ham fans will be ecstatic that they will be seeing more of him in claret and blue next season.
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