A new claim has been made about Dimitri Payet, and the West Ham United fans will be left scratching their heads.
The West Ham fans were incredibly angry with Dimitri Payet, when he forced a move away from the London Stadium to join Marseille more than seven years ago now.
However, all was not as it seemed at the time, and in 2022 the Frenchman explained that he left the Hammers because for family reasons.
The Frenchman was sensational for West Ham during his 18-month stint with the club, and he was nominated for the Ballon d’Or in 2016.
Payet bagged a really impressive 15 goals and 22 assists in 60 games for the Hammers. It’s worth remembering that he didn’t play in a great West Ham team either!
The now 37-year-old is one of the best West Ham players I have ever seen play live, and he’s right up there with the likes of Paolo Di Canio and Declan Rice. In fact, I would go as far as saying he is actually the best I’ve seen.
Dimitri Payet was world-class for West Ham
Payet was well-known for his incredible ability from set-pieces, and he bagged five free-kicks for the Hammers, the most memorable of which were his strikes against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the FA Cup and Crystal Palace at Upton Park in the Premier League.
The Frenchman has an uncanny ability to get the ball up and over the wall, only for it to dip back down towards goal tremendously quickly.
However Carl Jenkinson has made a stunning new claim about Payet that will leave the West Ham fans in shock.
The 32-year-old full-back spent two seasons on loan with West Ham, and played alongside the 38-capped France international.
And when speaking to talkSPORT, the former Arsenal and Charlton Athletic man made a startling claim about Payet.
“He (Payet) was very, very good, technically really good, his delivery from free-kicks and set pieces made him one of the best I’ve ever seen,” Jenkinson explained.
“Funnily enough there was another player at West Ham called Nene, signed on loan, and he was the best free-kick taker I’ve ever seen.”
Jenkinson continued, “He played a few games, not a lot, but he’s had a great career playing for PSG, but I remember sitting there in training watching him take about 20 free-kicks and every single one over the wall and in the top corner, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“He was scary in terms of free-kick taking, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Bizarre Payet take from Jenkinson
Nene only played eight games for West Ham during the 2015/16 season before leaving the club.
I just feel like this is one of those claims that footballers make sometimes to deliberately shock people.
I’m just not having Jenkinson saying that Nene was better at taking free-kicks than Payet – we all saw with our own eyes just how good the 37-year-old was from dead-ball situations.
I refuse to believe that Nene would have been capable of scoring the free-kick that Dimitri Payet banged in for West Ham against Crystal Palace.
I think Jenkinson’s memory may well be clouded somewhat.
Payet was the GOAT from set-pieces, and he always will be in my mind.
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