It seems the burning saga of the January transfer window is coming to a close, with the West Ham United agreeing a £25million fee with Ligue 1 side Marseille for forward Dimitri Payet.

Returning home

Payet was the most beloved player in Slaven Bilic's squad, with the Frenchman's excellent performance last season rewarded with a five-and-a-half-year deal back in February of last year.

The 29-year-old has failed to live up to the same dizzy heights this season, which was topped in January when Bilic confirmed that Payet wanted to leave the club and his refusal to train or play with the first-team.

Payet's former club have been the front runner with their latest bid of £22.5m been rejected, but it was confirmed on Sunday that a fee had been confirmed.

A club statement read: "West Ham United can confirm that the Club has today agreed a fee of £25m for the transfer of Dimitri Payet to Olympique de Marseille."

Playing at the top level

It seems that the Hammers knew Payet's exit was imminent, as they made a strong addition to their forward line with the signing of Hull City's Robert Snodgrass.

The Scotsman completed his £10.2m move to the London Stadium on Friday evening, and the 28-year-old stated to be playing at the top-level with the Hammers.

“This is why I have chosen West Ham," Snodgrass told whufc.com. "It’s the sort of level I want to be playing my football at."

"On the big occasions and rubbing shoulders with the best,” he stated. "Listen, with the players we’ve got here, like big Andy Carroll, I’m delighted on that front."

“We’ve had some great results recently and the manager will know the window is still open," the former Hull man stressed. "He wants to try to add to that [squad] to keep the run going."

“We had a great result against Middlesbrough last weekend," he admitted. "So I think we want to try and catch the likes of Everton and West Brom and keep moving forward."

“A Club like this is set up to be in that top half," Snodgrass concluded. "So I’m delighted to get the deal done and get pen to paper and I can’t wait to get started.”

West Ham United will take on Manchester City at the London Stadium on Wednesday, February 1 with kick-off at 7:45pm GMT.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.