Dimitri Payet has now been officially announced as having signed for West Ham United from Marseille for an undisclosed eight-figure-fee believed to be between £10-11million. The fee is undisclosed, as it is highly dependent on bonuses - the East London outfit were unwilling going to pay the rumoured fee in one lump sum.

Payet felt welcome in East London

Marseille had announced their intent to keep Payet, but bemoaned the fact that he and his agent were looking merely for money. As a result, this sent alarm bells ringing for a minority of Hammers fans on social media who were wary of bringing in a new player purely looking for monetary reward.

However, it seems as though it was more so the warmth and ambition of the club which persuaded him to make the switch over the channel. Talking to the club's official website, he told fans that "both the joint-Chairmen and the manager" had proved to him that he was wanted in East London.

Payet also seemed humbled that Slaven Bilic had made him his first-choice signing for the club. David Sullivan, commenting on the deal on the club's official site stated, "Slaven saw him as his number one target that we could afford - sadly Ronaldo and Messi were outside our budget at the moment!” - Bilic was rumoured to have been a long-term admirer of the Frenchman so it will be interesting to see how he is utilised, either on the wing, or, where he just had his most successful season in the number 10 role for Marseille.

Hand in hand ambition

Payet also talked of wanting to sign up to a club with a "clear project" stating that West Ham's 'project' matches his own ambitions "perfectly". This signing is a real signal of West Ham's intent this season. Payet was the most creative midfielder in Europe in terms of chances created, and the player who came closest - Wolfsburg's Kevin De Bruyne - was a lengthy 23 chances short of Payet's 135 chances created. 

The club are quite clearly trying to build a squad capable of finishing comfortably higher in the Premier League than their 12th-place finish last year, competing in the cups and progressing in the Europa League. With many more players seemingly in the pipeline ready to sign, it is a genuinely exciting time for West Ham United as they look forward to their first competitive game of the season on Thursday against FC Lusitans.

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About the author
Stuart Plant
London based sports writer. Recent English Lit + Creative Writing graduate. I love my Boxing, football (West Ham United) and international Rugby.