French acceptance that Marseille have lost out to West Ham on summer transfer

 

West Ham fans can be forgiven for not having the most positive feelings about Marseille. The French club’s pursuit of Dimitri Payet during the January transfer window was a huge disruption to West Ham’s season and there seemed a total lack of respect from both Payet and the club trying to buy him.

Signing Payet from West Ham has been a major part of Marseille’s new project and whilst the figures went much higher than the French club hoped, they were almost forced into a deal in the end. West Ham’s asking price had to be met, because if Marseille failed then the bright new dawn would already have had its first cloud.

Payet took a while to get into the swing of things after leaving West Ham, something which the French media pretty much blamed the London club for, but he’s done reasonably well since.

What Marseille really want is a star striker, and L’Equipe have a big feature on it in their Friday edition. Recently they found someone, were able to afford his cost, and were confident the player’s profile was high enough.

That someone was, however, Javier Hernandez, and West Ham were keen too. The Hammers won out, and Marseille losing to West Ham is accepted by L’Equipe, there’s no attempt to sugarcoat it.

‘Chicharito preferred West Ham’ say L’Equipe, and it’s a little revenge for the Hammers.