West Ham are playing dangerous game with Dimitri Payet
West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan should just stop talking about Dimitri Payet
West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan has had a lot to say about his star Dimitri Payet in the last couple of days. He’d be well served to shut his mouth unless he wants to talk Payet right out-of-town.
Right now, the odds are strongly in West Ham’s favor as it relates to keeping Payet this summer. The only way that could change, would be if another club decided to make a truly historic bid for the French midfielder.
That doesn’t mean that Sullivan should continue to run his mouth about Payet though. His latest comments claimed that Payet won’t leave the club unless they receive a bid somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 million pounds. I’m sure Sullivan said that with a great deal of confidence that such a bid wouldn’t materialize, but I fail to see the upside.
He likely believes his comments are serving to put other clubs on notice that Payet isn’t for sale. In actuality, he’s really daring big clubs around the world to come in for his talisman.
Imagine for a moment, that a club like Manchester United fails in its record bid for Paul Pogba, and follows that failure with the sale of several big-name stars. All of the sudden you’d have a Premier League team flush with cash to spend and a fan base that is clamoring for a big name signing. By keeping Payet’s name in the public eye, it might just be his direction that the Red Devils turn.
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Sullivan’s comments also run the risk of irritating the player himself. On one hand I’m sure he’s glad to hear he’s so valued by his club, but on the other, he doesn’t want to feel like the club is going to stand in the way of a potential dream move. He may really be happy at West Ham currently, but would he feel the same way if PSG or Barcelona came calling?
My point here is that Sullivan’s comments can only hurt West Ham’s chances of hanging on to Payet. He’s spot on with his assertion that the next six weeks will be filled with conjecture and rumor about other clubs swooping in for his star. His comments did nothing to stop those articles from being written.
All Sullivan has done is bring more attention to his player around the globe. In a time where he should be hoping to keep Payet’s name out of the tabloids, he’s gone and set the market for his potential transfer. That’s a dangerous game to play with a star that means everything to West Ham.