Ever since Dimitri Payet left West Ham and rejoined Marseille in January 2017, his weight has been a talking point.
As soon as he signed, L’Equipe came out with a cartoon mocking his ‘pudding’ belly, as well as an article explaining he had a ‘loss of muscle mass and was slightly overweight’ after suffering a lot of stress at London Stadium, where he was pushed to one side by the Hammers manager at the time.
He managed to put some of that behind him with some good performances, especially last season under André Villas-Boas, when he scored 12 goals and assisted another six in 27 appearances.
This campaign, however, has been a bit different, with just the one goal and one assist in five league games, as well as a red card picked up against Lyon that has seen him miss the last two Ligue 1 clashes against Bordeaux and Lorient.
On top of that, he has been unable to influence their Champions League fixtures, as Marseille find themselves with three losses in three, scoring a grand total of zero goals while conceding seven, having faced Olympiakos, Manchester City and Porto.
For former Marseille goalkeeper Pascal Olmeta, there’s a big problem in the south of France, and Payet is part of it.
He told La Provence: “I was bored (watching the Porto-OM game). I stopped before the end. It’s not possible! To see these games hurts my stomach. OM, it’s Europe, we’re not Guingamp! The worst is when you see young kids disappointed whereas certain players who’ve just lost 3-0 are smiling!
“It makes me want to slap them, and when you’re a professional, it’s not normal to be 100kg! That’s not loving your club. In my days, that would have been sorted quickly. When something doesn’t work, you say it, you help the other to get him back on track. And they’re lucky not to have fans there”.
Last time, when it came to Payet’s weight, there was the excuse of his bad end of spell at West Ham, but this time, there isn’t.
The France international signed a contract keeping him at the club until 2024, and former Marseille player Manu Amoros believes that may be one of the reasons.
He added to Olmeta’s rant by saying: “Payet? He signed the deal of his life. For him, it’s a bonus, but when you wear that shirt, you have to show a different image. The manager can’t see he’s not playing well, and that’s why I say he’s got a big part of the responsibility in this. Just like with Benedetto”.
