Report: Marseille abandons Payet chase

If Dimitri Payet had visions of returning to the Stade Velodrome, the embattled Frenchman may fancy booking a tour of the Cote d'Azur ground after Marseille reportedly gave up on its pursuit of the West Ham playmaker Friday.

Out of favour at West Ham and unlikely to play again in the claret and blue strip, Payet had been pining for a return to the club he enjoyed two seasons with prior to a Premier League switch in 2015.

Marseille has now given up on that hunt, with Sky Sports reporting that the Ligue 1 side will look elsewhere after failing to meet the London club's valuation of the 29-year-old Euro 2016 standout.

With the Hammers reportedly rejecting Marseille's second bid earlier in the week, it appears that discussion has now broken down after the French side took a page out of West Ham's transfer book and low-balled the club for the 29-year-old midfielder.

According to Sky Sports' Kaveh Solhekol, the two sides remain a ways apart in their assessment of the player.

"They are demanding £30 million and Marseille are not willing to pay more than £25 million so is this just a game of poker between the clubs?" said Solhekol.

"Marseille are saying they're not going to pay that. What I'm being told is they're resigned to not signing him in this window."

After missing the 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace last weekend, Payet has been banished from the senior side and will not travel with the club for a visit to Riverside to face Middlesbrough.

On £125,000 per week and under contract with West Ham until 2021, Payet's future languishes in footballing limbo, and with his family desperate to return to France's South Coast, the free-kick fanatic's career is at a standstill.

If Payet is looking for some charity to help his cause, it doesn't appear that West Ham will budge.

"Another way of looking at it is this could be a game of brinkmanship with West Ham. West Ham have a player who is refusing to play and who is training with the U-23s," Solhekol added.