West Ham sign French midfielder Dimitri Payet from Marseille on a five-year contract in a deal reportedly worth more than £10m. The outstanding 28-year-old joins the Hammers on a five-year contract, with a further one-year option. Blessed with superlative technical skills, exceptional vision and an inventive range of passing, Payet operates to great effect from his preferred central attacking midfield position, and is sure to add eye-catching flair and creativity to Slaven Bilic’s side.  Payet, who becomes West Ham’s third senior summer signing following the captures of Spanish midfielder Pedro Obiang and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Darren Randolph, is looking forward to bringing his formidable talent to the Barclays Premier League. Payet said the Club’s determination to bring him to east London played a huge part in him deciding to end his hugely successful spell in French football.
The player spoke to Joint-Chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold and new manager Slaven Bilic before putting pen to paper on his West Ham contract. “West Ham really showed me that they wanted me to come, both the Joint-Chairmen and the manager,” Payet told whufc.com. “That’s very important for me. I was also keen to sign up to a clear project. West Ham’s is very interesting and matches perfectly with my ambitions. “Firstly I spoke with the manager, who really wished for me to come here and had been watching me a lot. He made it clear that he wanted me to sign and that too was important in my choice. “I’m an attacking footballer so for sure I like attacking football and that they’re counting on me to help achieve that gives me a sense of responsibility. The fact that I’m here is also down to that. “I’m very happy to be here. It’s true that it’s taken a little while but that’s normal, negotiations are like that. But now that it’s done, I’m very happy.”