However much West Ham would like to keep their star players, the sooner the Dimitri Payet saga is over, the better.
The board are reluctantly speaking with Olympique Marseille about reuniting the Frenchman with his former club, but that is by no means a guarantee that a deal will happen this month.
According to the Independent, the playmaker’s transfer fee is proving a major sticking point.
His agent, Jacques-Olivier Auguste, is acting as the middle man between West Ham and Marseille, as although both clubs are happy to wait until the summer, that would leave the midfielder in a very awkward position until then.
Slaven Bilic has even kept him out of the main training camp after Payet insisted he wouldn’t play for the club again.
Marseille value him at around £20million, which West Ham consider too low.
The Ligue 1 side won’t want to be dragged into a war with the East Londoners over the deal, though, as they are keen to focus on other targets too, such as Crystal Palace goalkeeper Steve Mandanda and Montpellier’s Morgan Sanson.
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