Payet admits he left West Ham because he was 'bored'

Dimitri Payet is opening up about his ugly exit from West Ham United.

In conversation with L'Equipe, Payet confessed to leaving West Ham because of boredom and fears of regression, saying the defensive system the Hammers play under Slaven Bilic gave him no pleasure. The French attacker was sold to Olympique Marseille for £25 million (approximately €29 million) at the end of January after refusing to pull on the English club's shirt.

Related - Payet gets his wish, leaves West Ham for Marseille in £25M deal

"I had no desire to play in the lower reaches of the Premier League," Payet said, according to the Guardian. "The defensive system that we put in place did not give me any pleasure. With a 5-4-1 in front of our box, I could have had all the freedom in the world, so it's difficult for me to explain. You could say that I was pissed off, yes. I worked hard in every game without taking any pleasure.

"You could say I was bored. I had contact with Marseille and most notably with Rudi Garcia, who had a philosophy that I knew well. The choice was quick. If I waited six months I would lose six months. With West Ham at home against Hull (City), we won 1-0 and they hit the post four times. In the changing room everyone was happy, but the man of the match that day was the post. I thought that I would not have room for improvement. On the contrary, I risked regressing. I needed another challenge."

Payet added: "I had given them a warning that I would do it and maybe they thought I wasn't serious. Bilic knew that I wanted to go elsewhere. We discussed it at the start of the season when I returned from Euro 2016, but the club closed the door and I respected their choice. When a club announces that you're worth €100 million, negotiations never get far. I could have gone to war last summer. August was badly managed.

"In January, I told them I wanted to go to Marseille and nowhere else. The day they told me no, and that it was definitive, I responded to them by saying I would no longer play with West Ham."

West Ham reportedly wanted at least £30 million (approximately €35 million) for Payet, while Marseille opened the bidding at £19 million (approximately €22 million). In other words, the final price was roughly a compromise of what the two clubs were initially looking for.

When Payet finally departed the United Kingdom, David Sullivan, West Ham's joint-chairman, hit out at Payet on the Hammers' official website, saying: "The club would like to place on record its sincere disappointment that Dimitri Payet did not show the same commitment and respect to West Ham United that the club and fans showed him, particularly when it rewarded him with a lucrative five-and-half-year deal only last year."