Recent defeats to Liverpool and Crystal Palace have seen West Ham slip perilously close to the drop zone.
The East London outfit are only five points above 18th-placed Leicester, who play fellow relegation candidates Everton at the King Power Stadium this evening.
The Hammers are crying out for some quality and attacking exuberance to help ease their woes, and the diminutive Dimitri Payet would be the perfect difference-maker to help David Moyes if he were still in England.
How did Dimitri Payet fare at West Ham?
The forward signed for the Irons in 2015 under Slaven Bilic for a reported fee of £10m and is arguably their most talented player since the turn of the millennium.
In a stunning debut season in England, the magician registered 21 goal contributions in 30 league appearances and was named as the Premier League Player of the Year at the 2016 London Football Awards.
The former Marseille star was also shortlisted for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year Award and became the 38th recipient of the West Ham Player of the Year Award.
He continued this sensational form into his season and remained the club’s most enigmatic and influential force.
West Ham’s controversial move to the London Stadium was softened by this magisterial playmaker, who produced a host of era-defining moments.
In September 2016, Watford was the unlucky opposition who were on the end of one of the most outrageous assists in top-flight history - an audacious and pinpoint rabona that was emphatically headed home by Michail Antonio.
One month later against Middlesbrough, the winger was at it again and intricately weaved around five helpless defenders, before he angled a cute finish into the bottom corner.
The 38-cap international merged stunning skill with ruthless end-product and was described as “extraordinary” by Kingsley Coman.
A throwback to the days of Payet is a painful and poignant reminder of how things used to be.
One attacker, who has failed to even moderately mirror the form of his positional peer, is Said Benrahma.
Jacob Steinberg has been heavily critical of his form and said: “A special mention for Benrahma. That miscontrol on the edge of the Palace area in the 93rd sums him up. It’s just a constant lack of discipline and focus. Such an underwhelming player, not worthy of the hype he gets.
“Added to that is a constant lack of positional discipline, a lack of pace, a lack of strength, repeated unreliability in promising situations. Fine if he’s a squad player but he’s a £30m starter in his third season in the PL.”
This is a chastening condemnation for the Algerian, whose inconsistency and unpredictability will have Hammers fans reminiscing the days when they had that tricky Frenchman terrorising defences on a weekly basis. If only he was around now to wreak havoc and save Moyes' men from their relegation battle.