Dimitri Payet "relieved" to finalise return to Marseille from West Ham United

By Danielle Joynson, Staff Reporter | 30 January 2017

Dimitri Payet admits that he is "relieved" to have completed his return to Marseille from West Ham United following his controversial exit.

Dimitri Payet has admitted that he feels "relieved" to have finally completed a return to Marseille following a sour departure from West Ham United.

The France international finalised a £25m switch to the Ligue 1 side, where he left just over a year ago to join the Hammers in a £10m deal.

Payet was consigned to the Under-23s at the start of the month when he informed manager Slaven Bilic that he would not play another game for West Ham.

The East London outfit negotiated with Marseille for a number of weeks, and after rejecting numerous offers, finally settled on a figure £5m short of the club's reported asking price.

In a video interview posted onto Marseille's official Twitter page, Payet said: "I'm happy, I'm relieved. It's been long but fortunately everything has ended up well, so obviously I'm very happy to be back. It means I left a good image here and that everything went well."

Meanwhile, Sky Sports News has reported that West Ham demanded that Payet return the £500,000 he earned in wages during January.