We've lost Payet

Slaven Bilic has announced that Dimitri Payet doesn't want to play for West Ham anymore. The manager says Payet is "refusing to play for us" and this explains why he was only on the bench against Manchester City, with Slaven increasingly worried about his attitude. It's surely time to let him go because we don't want a discontented player at the club and it will affect the morale of the rest of the team. 

Payet hasn't been the same player this season, so let's get £30 million for a soon to be 30-year-old, save £120k a week and strengthen the rest of the side. Not having Payet as a get out of trouble option might make the whole team play better and inspire Manuel Lanzini to become he main playmaker. 

Payet arrived with a reputation as a temperamental player, but Bilic handled him well last season, though now we're seeing the other side of his character. To some extent his frustration is understandable. He was promised a tilt at the top six again and a world-class striker, but once we only got Zaza and Calleri it was always likely he'd end up wanting to go. West Ham had a world-class player in Payet but blew it through a summer of poor transfer dealing. 

Although Dimitri's gone about leaving in entirely the wrong way by apparently refusing to play, which is a sackable offence, though it never happens in football as no club will write-off a valuable asset. Payet should put in a transfer request if he's unhappy and remain professional on the pitch and in training. He's leaving with no class and will now be booed if he ever returns. You can understand Bilic saying, "I feel let down, I feel angry." But a hard line doesn't usually work, as West Brom have shown with Saido Behahino, who has lost value while frozen out by Tony Pulis.

We'll never forget Payet's goals or those moments of skill in 2005-06, but now the time has come to say au revoir.