West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice has admitted that he would have loved to play alongside Dimitri Payet at the club.
The Frenchman forced his way out of the club in January 2017, saying he no longer wanted to play for the club and eventually joining Marseille for £25 million – a club-record sale.
Payet spent just one-and-a-half season with the Hammers, making 60 appearances and scoring 15 times, but his quality was there for all to see and is one of the best players to have ever played for the club.
He made the PFA Team of the Year after his debut season, was nominated for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award and also ended up being the Hammer of the Year and London Player of the Year.
Payet was adored by the West Ham faithful, and a young Rice was definitely a fan of his style of play.
The 21-year-old made his debut for the Hammers four months following the Frenchman’s departure and has since established himself as a regular in the team, but he wishes he had played with the Marseille star in the middle of the park given his huge quality and talent.
Rice took to Twitter to react thus to a video compilation of the Frenchman’s best performances in a West Ham shirt:
Gutted I never had the chance to play with dimi😤 https://t.co/9HdpT4fVNh
— Declan Rice (@_DeclanRice) June 3, 2020
A midfield combination of Payet and Rice would definitely be great to see, but some things are never meant to happen.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
