Player Focus: Is Payet the Right Man to Keep West Ham in European Contention?

West Ham United will start the next campaign with a man in charge without any managerial experience in the Premier League, under pressure to play an attractive brand of football, hamstrung with the burden of Europa League qualification and a brand new 54,000-capacity home on the horizon.

The repercussions of any failure would be enormous for the Hammers next season and instead of looking to preserve their top-flight status ahead of their move to the Olympic Stadium, owners David Gold and David Sullivan have decided they want to leave the Boleyn Ground in style, identifying the signing of Marseille’s Dimitri Payet as the start of a new, successful era for the east London outfit.
 
West Ham have already bolstered their squad with several additions this summer, but it is the signature of Payet that the club are relentlessly pursuing to rubberstamp their intentions for the future under Slaven Bilić.
 
For football fans that may not be so intrinsically locked into the game outside the prism of the elite clubs of European football, Payet is not one of the more talked about players on the continent despite his immense talent. Payet, 28, is in the so-called prime of a footballers career and is coming off the back of an outstanding season for an ultimately underperforming Marseille side.
 
Statistically speaking, Payet would represent fantastic business for the Hammers. Not only did the Frenchman outperform West Ham’s entire midfield last season, he was also among the highest performing attacking midfielders in Europe and plays with a style and verve that could thrive in behind the likes of Enner Valencia, Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll.

 
In Europe last season, only Kevin De Bruyne (20), Cesc Fabregas (18) and Lionel Messi (18) registered more assists than the French international (17). Meanwhile no one has set up more goals in the last six Ligue 1 seasons (51), suggesting this has been a level Payet has been progressing towards, rather than an anomalous in his career.
 
Unfortunately for the Hammers, they still have a long way to go before completing a deal for the playmaker. They have already had a £12m bid rebuffed and have since tabled an improved offer. However, after reports emerged suggesting Marseille have presented Payet with a new, more rewarding contract, West Ham might be forced to break their £15m club transfer record to persuade the French side into parting ways with their star asset.
 
Nevertheless, despite their ambition to tie Payet down until 2019, Marseille could be powerless to prevent his departure this summer. The French side are unlikely to be able to match the reported £70,000-a-week contract West Ham are offering and after already seeing Andre-Pierré Gignac and Andre Ayew leave as part of a big squad overhaul this summer, it would come as no surprise to learn Payet is also having doubts about his future on the French Riviera.

Interestingly, however, Payet’s approach suggests he would have been the perfect fit for West Ham under Sam Allardyce. In the last campaign, no team averaged more crosses per game than the Hammers’ 26 and only West Bromwich Albion (17) scored more headed goals than West Ham (16). Coincidentally, 11 of Payet’s 17 assists came from crosses and although Bilić was not as reliant on such a tactic during his final season at Beşiktaş, West Ham may finally be able to get the very best from Andy Carroll – if he is fit – linking up alongside the precision of Payet. Sakho and Valencia are no mugs in the air either, and would also be the biggest beneficiaries of Payet’s unrivalled vision.
 
Attacking midfielders that are able to make a defence splitting pass, or have the ability to find a teammate through a clustered penalty area, come at a premium in modern football. David Silva cost Manchester City £24m; Real Madrid paid £71m for James Rodríguez and Manchester United broke the British transfer record to land Angel Di Maria. Clubs are always scouring the transfer market for these special players and it would go down as a real coup for West Ham to secure the services of a player that completed a key passes every 22 minutes on average last season – with a tally of 134 better than anyone else in Europe and 49 more than Downing.

 
Payet’s performances last season suggest he should actually be considered in a bracket alongside the best attacking midfielders in Europe’s top 5 leagues. The Frenchman’s natural instinct is to find a teammate, but when that option isn’t available, he isn’t shy to either take the ball forward himself or even try his luck from range. Payet completed a dribble every 46 minutes, compared to Valencia, a natural wide player, who completed one every 54 minutes. As well as setting up 17 goals, Payet also chipped in with seven of his own in Ligue 1, one more than Downing managed.
 
Aside from what was a disappointing end to the campaign for West Ham last season, it was still one that offered real promise for long periods. The Hammers were even flirting with the prospect of Champions League football for a time and were being transformed from a club that lacked invention to one of real purpose by the likes of Alex Song, Downing, Sakho and Valencia. But even their achievements look meagre in comparison to Payet’s, making the deal even more attractive for the club.
 
Of course, signing Payet does by no means guarantee West Ham will become a team capable of maintaining the form needed to finish in a European spot, far from it, but at the same time it is not a surprise to see the club desperately looking to sign a player that has seemingly been overlooked by the rest of Europe.

The Frenchman would still have to adapt to the intensity and physicality of the Premier League, but having been knocked back several times in their pursuit of star quality in the past, landing a player of Payet’s calibre would be the ideal way for the West Ham board to kick off life after Allardyce. For a player that has even managed to outperform Messi in terms of creativity, £14m could be a bargain.

Just how much of a coup would Dimitri Payet be for West Ham? Let us know in the comments below