Chris Waddle says foreign stars such as ‘pathetic’ Dimitri Payet don’t love England… they only come here for the money

CHRIS WADDLE blasted money-grabbing foreign players, claiming they do not like English football and would rather be somewhere else.

The ex-England winger hit out after seeing France star Dimitri Payet go on strike at West Ham to force a return to Marseille.

Even though Waddle, 56, is a legend at the French club, he is sickened by Payet’s “pathetic” actions and reckons it shows how little respect some foreign players have for fans, and the game itself in this country.

He said: “Foreign players come to England only for the money. I don’t believe they even like English football.

“If every top league in Europe offered the same wages, 99 per cent of them would not choose England.

“Be they from France, Spain, Italy or Brazil, they have no loyalty to England. They’re only here for their bank balance.

“It’s not like a local kid who comes through the ranks and knows everything about his club and truly loves it like Mark Noble at West Ham or Harry Kane at Tottenham.

“To Payet, it was just a transfer to West Ham and London. He wasn’t an Englishman thinking, ‘when I pack in, I’m going to live in London for the rest of my life because I love it’.

“Now Payet wants to leave and he just downs tools — how pathetic is that? Payet is calling the shots and it’s wrong.

“The people I feel sorry for are the West Ham fans, the ones who cheered him on and bought the merchandise with his name on.

“Now he’s just turning round and saying ‘see ya’. Payet may be jeered and booed out of London but there will be a red carpet waiting for him at Marseille.

“If he wants a move, he should put in a written transfer request and waive away any money from West Ham. It’s wrong he could still walk away with the club’s cash.

“Payet has done similar stuff to this in the past. It’s why many people in France look at him as a wrong ’un.”

That is in reference to Payet asking to leave Saint-Etienne for Paris Saint-Germain in 2011.
Payet, 29, signed a new 5½-year contract worth around £35m only last February.

But this season he has failed to maintain his form despite an impressive Euro 2016.

Waddle who made over 100 appearances for Marseille from 1989-92, added: “It’s time clubs got control back from players. Agents now run football.

“Players don’t like two things — not getting paid and not playing. Clauses should be written into every contract saying if you refuse to play, you won’t be paid a penny.

“If an agent came in and said, ‘my client will not be signing that’, the club can tell him, ‘p*** off!’
“The governing bodies must act now because it’s going to happen more and more, particularly with China now offering such mind-blowing wages.

“Payet has been disrespectful to the West Ham fans and to manager Slaven Bilic, who I like.

“He could have asked to leave in the right way, and the supporters would have accepted it.

“Instead, he chose to go on strike. It leaves the door open for others to say the best way to quit a club is down tools.”