West Ham captain Mark Noble admits the Dimitri Payet saga wore on his Irons.
Payet refused to play for West Ham in order to engineer a return to Marseille, and the move took plenty of time to play out.
At the time, Irons wide man Michail Antonio said the club wasn’t “wasting time” worrying about the transfer.
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Noble admitted that, at least for him, Payet’s decision to leave town stung a bit. In fact, he said the club was “gutted” by the request.
From Sky Sports:“He had a massive impact on our team because he was a big player in the changing room. The players loved him and would do anything for him.
“It got a bit disjointed and it was a tough time for all of us. But it has become a happy place again. I think it was on the manager’s chest and mind.”
The Irons have been a lot better without Payet, which is odd considering the majority of statistical metrics painted the midfielder as one of the best players in the Premier League. But a happy room is a happy room, and West Ham finally looks like a club that can climb higher on the table.
