This on-going saga has been dragged out over the last few weeks, ever since Slaven Bilic confirmed that Payet is refusing to play for West Ham as he angles for a move away back to France, reportedly for family reasons.
Payet has come under criticism from some of the games top pundits and former players, all of whom find him refusing to play for the club to be out of order.
And according to reports, there is a divide in the ranks of the Marseille officials, with some wanting to completely abandon their attempts to sign former player Payet, with others still keen to try and get his signature.
West Ham have already REJECTED three separate bids from the French club, the latest bid being 22.5m – which was rejected because West Ham value the player at around 30m.
Due to this, it seemed as though Marseille had given up on their attempts to bring Payet back to France, and reports suggested that they had told West Ham to expect no more communication regarding the matter, but new reports are now suggesting that if West Ham are willing to allow Payet to leave for 25m – 5m less than what West Ham originally wanted, then Marseille would renew their interest.
Payet has bagged 15 goals in 60 appearances for the Hammers, an effort that saw him rewarded with a new five and a half year deal last February, and Payet went to Twitter to express his hapiness at signing a new deal with the club that gave new life to his career, before refusing to play for them and demanding to be allowed to leave for France.
West Ham find themselves between a rock and a hard place – if they choose to reject the idea of accepting 25m for Payet, they are then stuck with an unhappy player that the fans have developed a strong disliking for, and jf they do choose to let him go, they will be accepting a bid they originally deemed not up to scratch.