West Ham ace Aaron Cresswell has stated that his former teammate Dimitri Payet is “arguably the best player” he has played with during his career.
The Hammers left-back, who is currently on international duty, could come up against Payet when England take on France on Tuesday in a friendly encounter.
Playmaker Payet left the London club in acrimonious circumstances in January with the player demanding a move back to his former club Marseille.
Added with that, the 30-year-old, who was the club’s Player of the Year in 2015/16, refused to play for West Ham, who eventually sold him to the Ligue 1 outfit during the winter window.
Ahead of a potential reunion with Payet, left-back Cresswell could only speak highly of a player who provided 17 assists for the Irons in his debut campaign in England.
“For me personally, I didn’t know much about him. But you knew he had the quality after a week or two training with us,” Cresswell told the London Evening Standard.
“He is arguably the best player I have played with and he certainly showed that day in, day out in training and of course in the games.”
England manager Gareth Southgate selected Southampton defender Ryan Bertrand ahead of Cresswell during the Three Lions’ 2-2 draw against Scotland at the weekend.
However, ahead of the friendly match, Southgate may decide to make a number of changes and give his squad players the chance to prove themselves.
During his time at the London Stadium, Payet played 66 matches in all competitions for Slaven Bilic’s side, scoring 18 goals and supplying 25 assists.
There could be the possibility that Payet starts France’s next match after he played over an hour for his country as they were beaten 2-1 by Sweden on Saturday.