West Ham United

David Sullivan: 'Selling Dimitri Payet this summer never an option'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 03 September 2016

Co-chairman David Gold insists that West Ham United are no longer a selling club, and therefore had no intention of accepting a bid for star attacker Dimitri Payet.

West Ham United co-chairman David Gold has reiterated that the club had no intention of selling star player Dimitri Payet during the summer transfer window.

The France international saw his stock rise following an impressive showing at Euro 2016, coming on the back of a first campaign in English football that saw him score and assist 21 goals in the league alone.

Payet was linked with a move to numerous European heavyweights during the early stages of the window, but West Ham stood firm to ensure that the 29-year-old remains a United player for the 2016-17 season.

"There was obviously a lot of speculation surrounding the future of Dimitri Payet and a number of reports said that he could leave, but that never happened and we wanted him to stay," Gold told the club's official website.

"The player himself is very happy at West Ham United and we didn't entertain any approaches. After what he did at the European Championship finals during the summer, I understand why fans would be apprehensive and worried about his future, but myself and David Sullivan always stated that he would be going nowhere.

"When we took over the club back in 2010, we both promised to try and stop our best players being sold, especially to the other London clubs, and we have managed to stop that in recent years."

Payet has played just 23 minutes of football so far this season, coming on for the final quarter of West Ham's opening-game defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.