Dimitri Payet has been told he would be welcome to return to Marseille by prospective new team-mate Bafetimbi Gomis.
The West Ham star’s arrival at the Stade Velodrome remains some way off with Marseille having seen a second bid that was some way short of West Ham’s £30million-plus valuation rejected.
However Standard Sport understands that the Hammers hierarchy have increasingly come to accept that a mid-season exit for Payet may be the right course of action. The recalcitrant playmaker is currently training with the West Ham Under-23s and has threatened to fake an injury if he is made to play for the first team again.
A move to southern France would reunite Payet with the team where he played a starring role between 2013 and 2015 before leaving in somewhat controversial circumstances, Marseille claiming they had no intention of selling at the time though it has since been claimed the Ligue 1 giants had no choice but to cash in.
Marseille are now under the ownership of American billionaire Frank McCourt and their top scorer Gomis, on loan from Swansea, welcomed the club’s ambitious pursuit of Payet.
“We welcome any good player in Marseille, we have good players,” Gomis told reporters after Marseille’s 4-1 loss to Monaco.
The best moments of Dimitri Payet's debut West Ham season
“We hear names like you do, you’re the ones writing them and I’m waiting for Payet impatiently, he can come.”
It is understood that no other club have yet expressed an interest in the France international, with Payet’s family are believed to have moved away from London in anticipation of the move.
