West Ham manager Slaven Bilic says Dimitri Payet will only get his wish to leave the Premier League club if Marseille meet his asking price for the unsettled France midfielder. Payet is trying to engineer a return to Marseille and has been training with West Ham’s Under-23 squad this week after telling Bilic he wasn’t willing to play in last Saturday’s win against Crystal Palace.
The east Londoners are reported to have rejected two bids from Marseille and Bilic insisted last week that Payet would not be sold to his former club. But with the end of the January transfer window looming Bilic’s stance has softened and he has told French giants Marseille to pay up if they want to secure Payet’s signature.
Payet joined West Ham from Marseille for £10mn and the Hammers are believed to want more than double that figure to allow the 29-year-old to go. “Dimi took his stance clearly. We took our stance very clearly and it stays the same. We are not going to sell our best players on the cheap just because someone wants to sign them or even because they want to go home,” Bilic told reporters.
“Is his departure inevitable? I don’t know. What has changed? Nothing. I left it with the chairman and I’m sure he’s going to do the best thing. The ball is in Marseille’s court. They are the ones who expressed interest. Now they should act.
“I don’t talk about numbers. All I’m saying is we were very firm, we know the market, we know how good or great he is as a player. Like everybody he has his price.”
Meanwhile, Bilic has been linked with a move for Southampton defender Jose Fonte, but he denied the Portugal international has already had a medical. “Not a medical,” he added.
“Look, I said a few times already I’m not going to talk about names. Are any deals close? Close is very relative in football. Many times something that looks close doesn’t happen. And sometimes something that looks distant suddenly happens. But in 24 hours, hopefully.”

Captain Mertesacker
extends Arsenal stay
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed yesterday that he has agreed to trigger a one-year contract extension for captain Per Mertesacker. Mertesacker has yet to play for Arsenal this term after suffering a serious knee injury in a pre-season friendly against Lens. The 32-year-old defender’s current deal was due to expire at the end of the season and, despite being someway from full fitness after knee surgery, Wenger wants to keep the World Cup winner for another 12 months.
“He has an option that we have taken. There was no negotiation, there was just an option that we took up.
He is back in training, not with the squad but I think he is a few weeks away,” Wenger told reporters.
Mertesacker replaced Mikel Arteta as the club’s skipper after the Spaniard retired at the end of last season and took up a coaching role at Manchester City. Arteta was sidelined with a number of injuries for much of his spell with the armband, but Wenger insists the same fate will not befall his current captain.
“It’s completely accidental,” he said of the German’s knee problem.
“With Arteta, it’s true that he struggled with muscular problems, but Per was accidental. It was a knee problem but he has recovered from that, so there’s no reason why he should be injured again.”
Meanwhile, defender Laurent Koscielny has said Wenger’s recent record at Arsenal should not undermine the long-serving manager’s ability to help his players develop and fulfil their potential.
Despite winning the FA Cup twice in the last three campaigns, Wenger has come under growing pressure for his failure to guide Arsenal to the Premier League title since 2004. “You may say that we haven’t won the title for a long time, but he has not just built players, he’s built men too.
Every player who has played for Arsenal has grown here and has become a man,” Koscielny told the club’s website. “It’s a big number (of players). For me and the others, it’s a good opportunity to be with him and learn from him. He’s passionate about football. He loves football and he loves to watch his team play well with the ball. That’s why he’s here again after 20 years. Along with a lot of people, he’s helped this club grow with a new stadium, a new training ground, and he built the platform for us to compete for the Premier League and Champions League every year.”
Arsenal, who are fourth in the table, eight points behind leaders Chelsea after 21 games, host 10th-placed Burnley on Sunday.