West Ham United star Dimitri Payet has reportedly turned down an offer of £500,000-a-week from China as he wants a return to Marseille.
The Frenchman is set to leave the Hammers after boss Slaven Bilic confirmed last week that his star playmaker had informed him that he no longer wanted to play for the club.
While the initial stance was that he would not be sold, the offers have continued to roll in with Sky Sports reporting that Hebei China Fortune and two other Chinese Super League clubs have made contact with a view of splashing out £26m a year on his wages.
Manuel Pellegrini is currently in charge at Hebei and so will have first-hand knowledge of just how good the 29-year-old is having come up against him last season during his spell at Manchester City.
However, the financial draw of playing in China doesn’t seem to be enough to prise Payet away from east London as it’s claimed in the report that he is even willing to take a pay cut of at least 30 percent to secure a move back to his former club.
The problem with that though is that Marseille have yet to satisfy West Ham’s demands as they are holding out for a £30m fee for their most prized asset, while the Ligue 1 outfit had a second bid of £20m rejected on Monday.
Payet has his heart set on a return to France it seems and for him to turn down the reported £500,000-a-week wages in favour of it just shows how much he wants it.
For West Ham and Premier League fans it will be a disappointment to see him leave England, but it looks more and more likely that Marseille will be the likely destination when an exit is confirmed provided that they return with an improved offer.