West Ham supremo David Gold has made the bold statement that key player Dimitri Payet was never in danger of leaving the London club this summer.
The France international starred for his nation in the Euro 2016 championships, scoring a number of stunning goals for the competition hosts.
This backed up a superlative debut campaign for the Hammers, where he inspired the side to a progressive campaign and was shortlisted for the PFA Player of the Year award.
Talk in the press stipulated that some of Europe’s biggest teams were interested in prying the former Marseille winger away from West Ham, but no deal materialised.
With Hammers supporters relieved that Payet is still on he club’s books, Gold has stated that there was nothing to worry about with the attacking midfielder over the course of the summer window.
“There was obviously a lot of speculation surrounding the future of Dimitri Payet and a number of reports said that he could leave, but that never happened and we wanted him to stay,” Gold told the club’s official website.
“The player himself is very happy at West Ham United and we didn’t entertain any approaches.
“After what he did at the European Championship Finals during the summer, I understand why fans would be apprehensive and worried about his future, but myself and David Sullivan always stated that he would be going nowhere.”
Payet is expected to be back in the West Ham starting line-up for the Premier League clash with Watford this weekend.
