Did this West Ham hero’s recent pledge actually mean anything?

Will Dimitri Payet see out his latest West Ham deal? The honest answer is – who knows, but generally very few see out their contracts.

Heads are turned by the merest hint of a bigger amount of money and Champions League football. Or in some cases, just the whiff of how many zeros are on the end of the cheque.

No one is saying that’s how Premier League sensation Dimitri Payet will be, but in time, he will either be enjoying life at the East End club so much because he’s adored by the fans, he’s winning silverware and because the Olympic Stadium and the club become something of a comfort blanket, or he will up and leave, citing professional decisions for moving on.

28-year-old French star Payet has taken the footballing world by storm this season and raised eyebrows at many clubs. When you consider that the top teams have extensive player recruitment networks and Arsene Wenger has French scouts actually looking for French talent, you have to wonder how Payet slipped under the radar of everyone but Slaven Bilic.

Payet has become a cult hero and hailed as one of the best ever Hammers already – he’s not completed his first full season yet. There is always the outside chance that it is a one season wonder and next year Payet will fade, but it does appear that the boy has remarkable talent and that that scenario is unlikely.

Bilic says he makes the rest of the team play better, that he is the star man and with of all the plaudits, it makes you think what he could do for France in the EUROs in the summer… if he’s picked!

Payet has been such a huge contributor to West Ham’s cause this year that the two David’s have acted quicker than they normally do, to extend his contract. Usually the Chairmen wait and do all of their business at the end of a season, but as soon as a Chinese club came sniffing, they weren’t about to let this pearl disappear.

Payet will be the difference between success and mediocrity for West Ham. Alongside Lanzini, they have proved a revelation and it is rumoured that the Chairmen want to buy Manuel Lanzini now rather than in the summer because other clubs are looking at him as well.

With the Hammers determined to sell-out their new 54,000-seater stadium, Payet agreed a new £125,000-a-week deal to keep him at West Ham until 2021. The £50,000-a-week pay rise means he now earns more than Andy Carroll.

Bilic said: “We must do everything we can to keep our best players, and he is our best player. He’s happy here.”

He added: “If you are playing like he is playing, if you are that calibre of players, many clubs are showing interest to get those kind of players but we are going to do everything we can to keep him with us.”

Like every player Payet will stay for as long as it serves him to stay, but everyone connected with West Ham has the same hopes as his manager, Slaven Bilic.

“Every player has a price but the good thing is he is happy at West Ham, we are more than happy with him and I hope – and I really think – that he will play with us for a long, long time.”

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