First Team Squad

Squad Number: 27
Position: Midfielder
Born: 27th Mar 1987 ( Saint-Pierre, Reunion Island)
Signed: 26th Jun 2015 (£10,700,000)
Contract: 5 years (signed February 2016)
Previous Club: Marseille

KUMB Awards: Player of the Year 2015/16; Goal of the Season 2015/16, (runner up) 2015/16, 2016/17; Best Signing 2015/16; Most Missed 2016/17; Hackett of the Year 2016/17.

Dimitri Payet plays for West Ham and the France national team as an attacking midfielder. Born in Saint-Pierre, Reunion he moved to France in 1999 with his family where he joined Le Havre.

Having failed to shine at Le Havre (where he was charged with possessing a lack of motiivation), Payet returned to Reunion in 2003 to join AS Excelsior, where he spent the next two season before returning to France with Nantes. After just a few months in the reserves he was promoted to the first team.

Payet became a regular in the Nantes first team but handed in a transfer request when the club were relegated from Ligue 1 at the end of the 2006/07 campaign. He was snapped up by Saint Etienne in a ?,?4million deal but initially struggled to make the team. By the time he was signed by Lille in 2011, Payet was a regular in the side.

The then French champions paid £9million for Payet in June 2011 and he enjoyed two successful season at the club before moving to Marseille in an ?,?11million switch two years later in June 2013. His second season at the club ended with him making more assists in Europe's top five leagues than any other player - prompting West Ham to sign him for £10.7million in the summer of 2015.