West Ham: Marseille give up on Payet; defender out for season; Zaza lies blame

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Sky Sports claim that West Ham are growing increasingly concerned regarding Marseille’s position over Dimitri Payet as they seem to be indicating that they have admitted defeat in their pursuit of the attacking midfielder with the Hammers still holding out for £30 million.

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The club are said to be confident that the French side are merely using it as a negotiating tactic as they try to drive down the price that West Ham will accept, with a deal still likely to be agreed this month.

Slaven Bilic has confirmed that central defender Angelo Ogbonna will miss the rest of the season after going under the knife for knee surgery. Bilic told BBC Sport:

“I have to praise Angelo Ogbonna, because he has played the whole season with an injury. He needs an operation on his knee to be fit long-term, and it was supposed to be a couple of weeks [ago] but we asked him to play.”

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The Italian has seen his performances suffer of late as a result, but with Jose Fonte now added to the squad, Bilic can afford to lose him to resolve a long term problem.

Fonte will be hoping to be a success at the club and avoid falling into the trap of becoming one of the club’s worst ever signings like Simone Zaza. The Italian recently discussed his stay in London, telling Superdeporte:

“It was a very difficult time for me… Everything started badly from the outset, I think the main blame lies with me because I was not right mentally, I was very negative and in all the things that happened I never saw the positive side. There was an atmosphere, a culture very different to mine. That was a problem. Now I’m here I feel bad not to have shown in England what I’m capable of.”

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Now on loan at La Liga side Valencia, it seems that all parties are glad to have put this nightmare behind them at last.

Featured Image: All rights reserved by Thuy Tran Thanh.