Sevilla sporting director Monchi has admitted the Spanish club tried to take advantage of the impasse between West Ham and Marseille over the transfer of Dimitri Payet.
Payet sealed a return the French side in a £25million deal on Sunday but it seems Sevilla also made a last ditch attempt to hijack the deal. Monchi was quoted by the Sport newspaper as saying:
“We tried to bring Payet, really taking advantage of a clash between West Ham and Marseille. We tried to act as intermediaries to solve the problem. In the end, they came to an agreement.”
Whether the La Liga club could have offered more than Marseille for Payet it is debatable. Their record signing was Alvaro Negredo when they paid Real Madrid €15million for the striker in 2009. They would have had to double their past record to match Marseille’s offer.
It is also unlikely that Payet would have been interested in a switch to Spain after previously declaring his desire to return to the South of France for personal reasons.
West Ham have now replaced the mural of Payet outside of the London stadium with an image of Andy Carroll’s stunning bicycle kick against Crystal Palace.
