“I LEFT for many reasons, but the main one was about football. West Ham’s objectives weren’t the same as the last season, and I felt in danger for my football and my chances with the national team. I had a choice to make.”
Those were the words of Dimitri Payet to So Foot last year after rejoining Marseille.
But did the former Hammers attacker make the right move?
We asked our friends at Football Whispers how he has been doing since he left the London Stadium and whether he will be a key player for France this summer.
It did not take long for Payet to reopen his account with Marseille.
After joining at the end of the winter transfer window in 2017, the Frenchman found the back of the net in a 2-0 home win over Guingamp on February 8 of that year.
He then reminded everyone of what he was best at, with a trademark free-kick against Dijon in April, finishing with five goals and three assists in 17 games in his half-season back with l’OM.
The attacker was named Marseille captain ahead of this season but started slowly and there was criticism when he was picked as part of Didier Deschamps’ France squad for the last two World Cup qualifiers in October.
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At that time, the attacker had just two assists to his name for his club, and was failing to properly take any games by the scruff of the neck.
It seemed like the burden of returning to Marseille to be their talisman may have been getting to Payet.
Former Marseille manager Elie Baup, who first signed Payet for the Ligue 1 club, told Le Parisien in December: “Payet suffered a huge amount of pressure for a year, him leaving England, his return at Marseille.
“He was very exposed, he couldn’t breathe. Maybe, subconsciously, he needed to let go a bit.
“Like everyone else, Dimitri needs to be 100 per cent. We would have to know where he is psychologically compared to the top level.
“How is he approaching future challenges? Does he still have that hunger?”
He wasn’t the only one questioning Payet, with the French media criticising the former West Ham man too.
Back in November, La Provence journalist Alexandre Jacquin said about the playmaker’s return to Marseille: “For now, it’s a failure.
“A complete failure is a bit harsh, but it’s still a failure in terms of stats, influence on the pitch, and the captain’s armband doesn’t exactly give him more weight in this team.”
But Payet had suffered a hamstring injury which affected his pre-season and the beginning of this campaign.
He wasn’t by any means setting the world alight, but he did have an excuse.
And the Frenchman himself admitted he believed that was why he wasn’t hitting the same heights as before, saying in October: “It’s never easy to bounce back from an injury at the start of the season or during pre-season, because you lose condition quickly when you don’t play.
“But I’ve been playing quite a lot, which got me back on track, and I’m feeling better and better.”
The 31-year-old has slowly been regaining his form and put in arguably his best performance of the season last night, as Marseille overcame a 1-0 first-leg defeat to beat RB Leipzig 5-3 on aggregate in their quarter final of the Europa League. Payet scored the crucial fourth for l’OM.
In fact, his creativity has been hugely impressive this season.
In the league, he has an expected goals assisted rating per 90 (xA90) of 0.33. That’s the fourth highest in France’s top flight.
That expected rating corresponds with his actual assists too. Payet has nine – which is the fourth most in Ligue 1.
And no-one has made more open play key passes per 90 (2.48) than him, either.
There isn’t anyone more creative in France than him at the moment.
Despite that, there are questions as to whether he will go to Russia.
Since Deschamps was criticised for picking Payet in October, the Marseille captain hasn’t featured for Les Bleus and wasn’t part of the squad for the international break last month.
Anthony Martial, Kingsley Coman and Thomas Lemar have all been preferred on the left wing since he last played there.
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Despite that, Christophe Dugarry, former World Cup winner with France, thinks he should go to Russia though, telling RMC Sport earlier this month: “Payet is more than a threat for Anthony Martial. I would prefer him there for the World Cup.
“He has an armoury that the others in contention don’t have, because he is a true No.10. He’s reaching form at the right moment and he knows his team-mates.”
The former Birmingham City man is right in that Payet is hitting form at the right time.
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While Martial is struggling for minutes at Manchester United, the Marseille skipper is finally relishing having the captain’s armband at the Stade Velodrome, with manager Rudi Garcia hailing him as his side’s ‘leader’ after the win against Leipzig.
At the moment it looks touch and go as to whether he makes Deschamps squad with all the attacking quality France have.
But if he carries on paying like this, he deserves to be on the plane to Russia and could be in contention for a place in Les Bleus’ starting lineup.
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