French Football Federation president embarrassed by Payet's transfer to West Ham
The president of the French Football Federation claimed he's embarrassed by the league's failure to retain Dimitri Payet following his move to West Ham United.
The Premier League team signed the talented midfielder to a five-year contract from Marseille for a transfer fee believed to be worth £10.6 million.
Payet left the French club on poor terms after apparently agreeing to a deal with Marseille before accepting a lucrative offer from West Ham without the Ligue 1 side's knowledge until the transfer was virtually complete.
While there's little Marseille could have done to retain the French international thanks to his covert nature, Noel Le Graet expressed his disgust with the country's big teams and their failure to make an offer for Payet.
"It's embarrassing," Le Graet admitted to French outlet Le Parisien, courtesy of NBC Sports. "PSG have a role to play though, as do Monaco. I would prefer that our big clubs, with strong economic situations, were interested in French internationals. I dream to see half of the team at PSG consisting of French players. It would be better for everyone and feed the market. With the values, we could have a competitive team."
Le Graet then turned his attention toward the country's relatively low television revenue, which pales in comparison to deals such as England's where Sky Sports and BT Sport paid more than £5 billion for the right to air Premier League matches.
"If we got more money from our television companies, we could be more intelligent. But they don't give us a lot – it is a joke because we are close to the level of the leagues in Italy and Germany. There is already an attraction to English football because of the money," he added. "Now a zero is added to the wages of our young players when they cross the channel and that's not about to change. The French model must be stronger economically."
Canal+ and beIN SPORTS paid a record fee of €726.5 million in 2014 to air Ligue 1 matches in France.
France's loss, however, is England's gain as Payet joins a West Ham side on the rise as they get set to move into their new stadium after the upcoming season, and have expressed an ambition to increase their payroll in order to compete with the Europe's elite.