- Dimitri Payet sold to Olympique de Marseille for a fee of £25m
- French midfielder had told the Club he no longer wanted to play for West Ham United
- Joint-Chairman David Sullivan 'disappointed' but says Club will grow stronger in future
West Ham United have sold Dimitri Payet to Olympique de Marseille for a fee of £25m.
The French midfielder has been sold after stating that he no longer wished to play for the Hammers.
Joint-Chairman David Sullivan, said: “The Club would like to place on record its sincere disappointment that Dimitri Payet did not show the same commitment and respect to West Ham United that the Club and fans showed him, particularly when it rewarded him with a lucrative new five-and-half-year deal only last year.
“I would like to make it clear that we have no financial need to sell our best players and that the decision to allow Payet to leave was in accordance with the wishes of the manager and the interests of squad unity. To be frank, my Board and I would have preferred for him to have stayed in order to make an example of him, as no player is bigger than the club.
“I am confident that with the quality of the players we have brought in during January already, the squad will be stronger at the end of this transfer window than it was at the start.
"We now look forward to building on our recent good run of form with five league wins in the last seven matches as we focus on continuing our rise up the Premier League table.”