Declan Rice caught the attention of a lot of West Ham United fans recently after he posted a tweet stating that he is “gutted” to have not had the chance to play with ex-Irons playmaker Dimitri Payet at the London club.
Along with this admission that he regrets that he didn’t have the opportunity to line up alongside the Frenchman during Payet’s time at West Ham, Rice’s post shares a tweet that was recently posted by football compilation page @DHRComps, which includes a video featuring some of Payet’s highlights from his time with the Hammers.
Rice’s recent tweet about the ex-West Ham man has caught the attention of a lot of West Ham supporters who have been responding to this post.
Some West Ham fans replied to Rice’s tweet by sharing that they would have liked to have seen he and Payet line up alongside each other for the Hammers.
I don’t think my body could physically take watching you ping balls to him.
— West Ham Transfers (@westhamtransfer) June 3, 2020
Oh my days what a tweet but imagine though ?
— Jack ???????? (@jackarmitxge) June 3, 2020
Other West Ham supporters took this opportunity to gush over Payet and his time at the Premier League club.
Guy was absolutely filth. Best player we’ve had since Di canio. Literally could decide on his own wether we’d win or lose. Guy was a genius. So sad the way it ended. ?
— ???forbes (@ovo_forbes) June 3, 2020
Even after he did what he did, he was still the best player I’ve seen play for us ( hardly remember Di Canio as i was young )
— 97 (@97mralig) June 3, 2020
Meanwhile, some Irons supporters responded to Rice’s tweet by calling for the 21-year-old midfielder to try and convince Payet to return to West Ham. The 33-year-old playmaker earned an impressive average overall rating of 7.73 for his performances for Marseille in Ligue 1 during the 2019/20 season according to WhoScored.
Give him a call and ask him to come back?
— Aaron Stevens (@Aaron_Stevens81) June 3, 2020
Agent Dec get him back
— ??? J?MES ??? (@JameswhufcJones) June 3, 2020
According to Transfermarkt, Payet made 60 appearances for West Ham during his time at the club, providing 23 assists and scoring 15 goals for the Hammers in all competitions. He was named in the PFA Team of the Year for the 2015/16 campaign, whilst he also earned West Ham’s ‘Hammer of the Year’ award in 2016.
With that in mind, it may be fair to say that Payet delivered some impressive performances during his time with West Ham and it might be understandable why these Irons fans seem to have some fond memories of his time with the club.