Dimitri Payet: Outstanding French midfielder came very close to signing for Tottenham, ex-Spus director of football reveals
DIMITRI PAYET could have been a Tottenham player – former Spurs director of football Damien Comolli has revealed.
Comolli said he had been negotiating a deal with Saint-Etienne for Payet, then 20, when he had just moved to the French club.
It was agreed for Payet to move to Spurs two years later, but Comolli left White Hart Lane before a deal could happen.
The standout player of Euro 2016, France's Payet, moved to West Ham from Marseilles last summer, but his career could have panned out so different.
Comolli was Spurs’ director of football from 2005 to 2008 and knew what a quality player Payet was after tracking the youngster's progress at Nantes.
Comolli told the “When I was at Spurs the Saint-Etienne president telephoned me one day and said: ‘Listen, we’re on the point of signing this player, Dimitri Payet, from Nantes for £3.1million.'
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"That was an enormous amount of money for Saint-Etienne. He said: ‘I wondered if you’d be interested in buying him for Tottenham in two years’ time for £7.7million.'
"I said ‘yes’. I didn’t think the player was ready at that point to play for Tottenham but I thought that after two years at Saint-Etienne he would be ready — so I said it was something that I’d be interested in.
"As I left Tottenham and ended up at Saint-Etienne it never materialised. But back then Payet was already a player that I liked a lot, having seen him when he was young at Nantes."
Now 29, Payet will be in the France team to take on the Republic of Ireland in the Last 16 of Euro 2016 on Sunday.
