West Ham fans offered deal to get Payet off their backs
LONDON (Reuters) - After selling Dimitri Payet to Olympique de Marseille for 25 million pounds ($31.2 million), West Ham United are offering fans a cut-price deal to get the French forward off their backs as well.
"Bring back your Payet shirt to any of the club shops & you will get a new replacement for £25," the Premier League club's vice-chairman Karen Brady said on Twitter on Monday in response to a query.
Basic short-sleeved 2016-17 West Ham team shirts without a player's name on the back usually retail at 55 pounds each but are currently reduced to 36.66 in a sale at the club's online store.
French international Payet, who stood out for the host nation at Euro 2016, had become a fan favourite at the Hammers after he joined from Marseille in 2015 for a reported 10.7 million pounds.
The relationship broke down when he told the East Londoners he no longer wanted to play for them and sought a return to Marseille in the current transfer window.
Co-owner David Sullivan on Sunday accused the player of lacking respect.
"The club would like to place on record its sincere disappointment that Dimitri Payet did not show the same commitment and respect to West Ham United that the club and fans showed him, particularly when it rewarded him with a lucrative new five-and-half-year deal only last year," he said.
The Hammers last week signed Scotland winger Robert Snodgrass from struggling Hull City in a 10.2 million-pound deal.
($1 = 0.7994 pounds)
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)