The attacking midfielder was one of the exponents of the class of ’87, a cursed year for French football. Irrepressible talent but ruined by character. At West Ham he ended up under guard after an argument with fans
There are works of art that take on a different value precisely because they are unfinished. They leave to the imagination what could have been and wasn’t. Here, Dimitri Payet from Reunion Island has that effect on you: an anarchist, a football rebel, someone who has always wanted to wallow against the tide. Normality has never been for him and anyone who has tried to lock him into patterns and tactical dictates has often come away empty-handed. For a couple of days he said enough about playing football, taking with him a trail of regrets and “but do you remember how strong this was?”. Already. He could have become a champion, but his character never matched his talent. Irrepressible. One of those who lit up in spurts, who if the planets were aligned there wasn’t any for anyone, but who when it wasn’t the day he was annoying, irreverent and above all listless to the max. Payet was one of the class of ’87 – a cursed year for French football – one destined to get lost in the limbo of wasted opportunities due to an unmanageable character, in full respect of the narrative of the man against.
