West Ham agrees £25m deal with Marseille for Payet

West Ham United have confirmed that a £25million deal has been agreed for Dimitri Payet to join Ligue 1 club, Marseille.

Payet only moved to the Premier League 18 months ago from Marseille.

His transfer ends a long-running battle with the club, after the French playmaker insisted he wanted to leave.

This was first revealed by Hammers manager, Slaven Bilic, who said Payet was refusing to play for the club. The news was received with anger by the team’s supporters.

There have been lengthy negotiations over the fee for Payet, for whom West Ham paid Marseille £10.7m in June 2015.

An initial £22.5m bid was turned down, before Marseille upped their offer by adding just £2.5m.

Payet continued to train with West Ham’s U-23 squad as discussions dragged on, but has now flown to France to complete the move.

He scored 15 goals in 60 appearances for West Ham and only signed a new five-and-a-half year deal last February.