West Ham owner David Gold has claimed that Dimitri Payet let fans down with his move to Marseille and the club could have got a lot more for his services, he told BT Sport.

What's the word?

Dimitri Payet's exit from West Ham United and return to Marseille was certainly the saga of a January transfer window that lacked spark and the Frenchman did not leave himself with any fans at East London following his exit.

Payet refused to play for the Hammers during January and demanded an exit from the club, which West Ham were initially reluctant to agree to, but Slaven Bilic's side eventually agreed to an exit for the benefit of the club- as an unsettled Payet could have created havoc behind the scenes.

Following a return to Marseille, the sentiment with the Hammers is a wealth of anger towards Payet and David Gold has had his say on the situation, claiming the club could have earned much more for his services and revealed cracks had started to surface in the months beforehand.

What was said?

Speaking to BT Sport before the coverage of West Ham's defeat to Manchester City, David Gold said:

“Part of the reason the fans are angry as we had to sell him below his value. In the Euros you could say he was worth between £40million and £50m – everyone was talking about him at that value – we got £25m unfairly, as there was only one bidder as he only wanted to go to Marseille."

“But in an open market, he would have got £35m. The fans are angry as they have lost their hero and they didn’t get a fair price for him.”

“There was a period of time over a couple of months when the morale was reducing. We didn’t want him to leave, the manager wanted to build the team around Dimitri - but sometimes it becomes impossible."

"You do everything you can and sometimes we realise it will not work and you have to bite the bullet - it was like a deteriorating relationship. He has let the fans down, the football clubs down and the fans down and I am hugely disappointed."

"The morale at the training ground having lost Dimitri, you can see without him we have won five out of the last seven. The decision to let him go has been a good one - if the chemistry collapses, what can you do?"

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