Dimitri Payet is a French professional footballer who plays for Ligue 1 club Marseille.
42 Facts About Dimitri Payet
2.
Dimitri Payet spent four years at the club before returning home to spend two years playing for AS Excelsior in the Reunion Premier League.
3.
Dimitri Payet had two years there and a further two at Olympique de Marseille before moving abroad to join West Ham United.
4.
Dimitri Payet made his international debut on 9 October 2010 in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match against Romania, appearing as a substitute.
5.
Dimitri Payet was a member of the French squad that reached the final of UEFA Euro 2016.
6.
Dimitri Payet was born in Saint-Pierre on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean and began his career at local club AS Saint-Philippe.
7.
The accusations ultimately led to his departure in 2003 as Dimitri Payet returned to Reunion to sign with AS Excelsior.
8.
Dimitri Payet spent only a year and a half at Excelsior playing in the Reunion Premier League before being signed in January 2005 by Nantes who sought to give the player another opportunity to prove himself on the mainland.
9.
Dimitri Payet signed a two-year amateur deal with the club; however, Nantes were given the option of terminating the contract after six months.
10.
Dimitri Payet impressed with the team in 22 matches scoring six goals and was described by the club's reserve team coach Stephane Moreau as a "talented player despite his natural indifference".
11.
Dimitri Payet was officially promoted to the senior team and assigned the number 31 shirt by Le Dizet.
12.
Dimitri Payet, subsequently, appeared as a starter for the rest of the campaign.
13.
Dimitri Payet appeared in 30 league matches scoring four goals and supplying six assists in the season.
14.
On 22 July 2009, Dimitri Payet signed a two-year contract extension with the club until 2013.
15.
Dimitri Payet performed well in the cup competitions, particularly in the Coupe de France.
16.
Midway through the first half, Dimitri Payet received criticism from teammate Yohan Benalouane for displaying a lack of aggression.
17.
Dimitri Payet was then confronted by Matuidi, who echoed Benalouane's sentiments.
18.
Ahead of the closure of the transfer window, a frustrated Dimitri Payet failed to show up to training in an effort to force the transfer.
19.
Dimitri Payet ended the season with 13 goals, making him Les Verts' top scorer.
20.
On 28 June 2011, Saint-Etienne manager Christophe Galtier confirmed that Dimitri Payet was on the verge of signing with the defending league champions Lille after the player himself informed him the previous day.
21.
Dimitri Payet ended his first season at Lille with six goals and six assists, starting in 23 of the team's 38 league matches.
22.
At the season's winter break, Dimitri Payet was recognised by the Ligue de Football Professionnel as the league's highest assist-maker, with 7 in the team's 19 matches.
23.
Dimitri Payet had reached six goals at the halfway stage, having scored in each of Lille's three matches prior to the winter break.
24.
On 18 May 2013, Dimitri Payet was named in the UNFP's Ligue 1 team of the season.
25.
Dimitri Payet ended the season as the league's joint-top assist-maker, alongside Mathieu Valbuena, with 12 goals created.
26.
Dimitri Payet scored 12 league goals to register the second-highest scoring season of his career.
27.
Dimitri Payet made almost twice as many key passes as any other player, and made 17 assists in 36 league appearances, topping the Ligue 1 assist charts.
28.
Dimitri Payet is probably the best player in the world, together with Andres Iniesta, with his back to the goal.
29.
Dimitri Payet is so technically gifted and agile that it is almost impossible to get the ball from him.
30.
On 26 June 2015, Dimitri Payet joined Premier League club West Ham United on a five-year contract, with the option for an extra 12 months.
31.
Dimitri Payet had not intended to leave Marseille in the summer of 2015.
32.
That March, Dimitri Payet was named the Premier League Player of the Year at the 2016 London Football Awards.
33.
In May 2016, Dimitri Payet became the 38th recipient of the West Ham United Player of the Year award.
34.
At the London Stadium on that matchday, a mural installed in tribute to Dimitri Payet winning Player of the Year was guarded by security in order to "prevent it being vandalised".
35.
Dimitri Payet was the subject of two bids from his previous club Marseille which were both rejected by West Ham.
36.
The day after Dimitri Payet completed his move to Marseille, his mural at the London Stadium was removed and replaced with one to commemorate Andy Carroll's bicycle kick goal against Crystal Palace scored earlier in the month.
37.
Dimitri Payet made his debut for the team in February 2007 in a friendly match against Switzerland, and assisted a Jeremy Menez goal.
38.
Dimitri Payet was called up to the senior national team for the first time by Laurent Blanc for the Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Romania and Luxembourg.
39.
Dimitri Payet hit the post with a second-half shot and created six chances, more than double any other player.
40.
Dimitri Payet had the most touches of any player, with 89.
41.
In May 2016, Dimitri Payet was named in the France squad for Euro 2016.
42.
Dimitri Payet sustained an injury during the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final, which resulted in him missing out on France's ultimately victorious 2018 FIFA World Cup squad.