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Bang, there goes the 'beautiful' friendship between Hammers boss Slaven Billic and last year's hero Dimitri Payet. Billic came straight out with it during his weekly press conference, Payet has refused to play or even train with the rest of the team in order to force through a return to newly rich Marseille, the club that sold him to West Ham for £10.75 Million. Rumours of Payet's discontent have been rife, and these along with his recent body language and languid performances meant the player once seen as West Ham's talisman was always going to leave the club sooner rather than later. The question was when, who to and for how much? No player is without a price and to the hammers board's credit they did their up most to keep Payet but it was not to be. Marseille are not the only suitors for Payet, PSG are keen on the player as well, what is clear is that West Ham will not sell Payet to a Barclays Premier League club, they would rather he play for the reserves! Having only recently signed a new contract diminishes The 30 year old french star's bargaining power, but as is par to the norm nowadays, money talks and West Ham are not a rich enough club to afford the luxury of having a star playing for the reserves. A price of £30 Million is being mentioned, which would equate to Marseille paying an additional £19 Million to the transfer fee they initially received for Payet from West Ham if he eventually ends up there, alternatively West Ham could potentially sell Payet to a super rich Chinese club whether he wants to go there or not! Either way it is a scrappy way to end the 'Payet' love affair, perhaps it was just a holiday romance after all? - Ed
PS: Even before this news, it was interesting to note that Dimitri Payet hadn't received a single vote in our best player poll!

Back in the day there was a TV series called Hogan's Heroes in which a ramshackle bunch of P.O.W's led by Captain Hogan, including an appalling Dick Van Dyke sound alike 'cockerney', rang rings round ze germans, one of which named Schultz would famously say "I saw nothing!"when outfoxed by the cheeky chappies. Fast track to the present day, and the entertainment known as the Barclays Premier League transfer window, in this particular episode Hogan rides to the rescue of West Ham United, a team sadly lacking goals. Despite initially having five strikers at his disposal, Hammers manager Slaven Billic has seen only THREE league goals scored by the whole lot of them, so obviously something had to be done. Callierri and Zaza will be off during the window, leaving space for what would be a tremendously brave and risky signing that could prove to be inspired or a total disaster, namely the £15 Million signing of 24 year old Scott Hogan from Brentford. Having had their fingers severely burned by signing Andy Carroll for a then club record from Liverpool, it is somewhat surprising that the West Ham hierarchy are willing to countenance signing another injury prone player. Although Hogan's injury record is not as bad as Carroll's, it doesn't make very good reading and the player hasn't really played many top flight games at all, his potential arrival goes to show just how desperate things have got at the London Stadium but what else can be done? A quick glance at the League table shows this weekend's visitors Crystal Palace as uncomfortably close despite having shelled out a fortune on players and wages during the summer, so spending big is not necessarily the way forward, but as it is essential to retain Premier League status West Ham have no option other than paying over the odds for a couple of new players now. The financial loss associated with relegation would be totally catastrophic, so the co-owners will dig deep, they have to! Should the deal go through, and there is no reason to assume it won't, Hogan will have a massive weight on his shoulders from the off, the need to score goals and to justify what will be a very over hyped fee could strangle the player's natural ability, but it is seen as a risk worth taking.
Reports suggest that Hogan will have his medical this friday, which is of course friday the thirteenth ......
Perhaps the club should wait until Saturday or Sunday given the appalling bad luck the club has experienced with new signings! - Ed