Is Dimitri Payet Chasing More Money?

While it is not uncommon for a player to force his hand when he wants to move to pastures new, Dimitri Payet’s refusal to play for West Ham, in an attempt to force through a move to Marseille, undoubtedly leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Among the howls of indignation, however, it is perhaps worth remembering that it is players, more often than not, who are on the end of poor treatment from their clubs whenever the roles are reversed.

If an unwanted footballer wishes to stay with his club, to honour his contract, the club doesn’t always play nicely. Just ask Bastian Schweinsteiger, for instance, the World Cup winner who has spent the early part of this season training with Manchester United’s youth team.

Perhaps he felt, upon learning that he was not in Jose Mourinho’s plans, that with hard work he could change his manager’s mind. But he was banished for months. And he is far from the only player to be treated in such a way.

I was in that situation once — long hours, no days off, training on my own or, if I was lucky, with the youth team — when my manager suddenly decided my time at a club was up. Unknown to me, I had been made available for loan and when a club made an approach, he made it clear I had no choice in the matter: I had to leave.

There was no consideration of where in the country the club was, or how the move might affect my family. Those situations are faced by players all over the world at this time of year, as managers try to shuffle their pack.

Much has been made of the fact that Payet, whose desire to return to France is for family reasons, signed a new and improved five-year contract with West Ham last February.

First of all, you try refusing an offer from your current employer to double, perhaps triple, your salary. While his heartfelt message to the fans after signing was one that the club, in all likelihood, would have strongly encouraged, perhaps even choreographed.

Second, we often see players approaching the final year of their deal, frozen out for deciding not to sign a new contract: Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez and David De Gea to name but three. The Bosman ruling may have returned power to players, who can leave for nothing when their contract expires, if they are over the age of 24, but clubs often try to protect their interests. Is it so different for players to do the same? Football is a business, after all.

Fans may hanker for the days when there was a little more decency in football, but those are long gone. As an innocent young player, the love of the game glows inside just as it does for most supporters. That is tested with every year in the job, however, which is exactly what it becomes.

It is not the same game you grew up playing on the park, or watching from the stands or on TV. You still love it: the competition, the thrill and the rush, but the politics, the business of football is a stench that permeates those feelings with every passing year.

As a teenager, I remember hearing for the first time a senior player — an England international — declaring that for him, football was “all about the money.” It startled me, as did the unwanted player playing with reserves whose daily quip that he would not be leaving the club without his “wheelbarrow full of cash” was the cause of much hilarity.

With that in mind, should we really be so surprised if players such as Oscar and Diego Costa are tempted by unfathomable riches in China? They are no paupers already but there is a presumption that the reason they play football is an unwavering love of the game.

Another former teammate of mine, who was once the subject of an approach from a bigger club, told our manager that he wanted to leave but was informed he was going nowhere. Heated discussions followed before he was told what price it would take for him to be prized away — one of fantasy, rather than reality, which the manager knew all too well.

The player was angry, but didn’t kick up a fuss and stayed. He may look back with a clear conscience, as someone revered by the club’s support. But he does so with a considerably lighter bank balance. It doesn’t always pay to be the nice guy, unfortunately.

Supporters are the only ones who know loyalty in football. Players may grow attached to a club, perhaps even to their fans but, in truth, even those fans would swap you for another player who might lift them higher in the league, or win them a trophy. Their loyalty is to the club. And a club’s loyalty is wedded to its search for success.