Can Dimitri Payet Replicate First Season Brilliance?
He came to the Premier League without much fanfare or expectation for a relatively modest fee of £10m, but during his first season at West Ham Dimitri Payet helped fans believe that their club was one on the up.
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It can not be denied, even by the most ardent of Arsenal and Spurs fans, that Dimitri Payet was one of the best players in the Premier League last season. In my eyes it was only the extraordinary Leicester story and potentially Harry Kane’s goal-scoring exploits that stopped him being named as the Player of the Season.
Now the question that everyone is asking is whether that was just a flash in the pan, or if the mercurial Frenchman can produce again in Europe’s most competitive league.
Away from the immature twitter topics regarding the subject, where West Ham fans claim Dimitri Payet is the second coming of the Messiah and other fans claim he is overweight and just got lucky this year, there is an interesting debate to be had on the subject.
In the case against him repeating it you point to the fact he was in a West Ham team that had one of their best seasons, so it’s going to be hard to replicate such a great season all around. There is also the fact that the rest of the Premier League was having a collective meltdown, with none of the “big teams” finding any sort of consistency. Would he be allowed to shine as bright in any other Premier League season?
Related Story: How much is Payet worth to West Ham?
That’s where that argument ends for me.
In the case for him continuing his form we can switch the arguments against Dimitri Payet around, could it have been down to the introduction of the former Marseilles play maker that West Ham had this improved season with him leading the chances created stat in the team by quite some distance.
Also last year was a strong season for the lower/mid teams, teams that you would usually expect good players to shine against when weak. If this was them playing well and stronger then imagine the havoc a fit and firing Dimitri Payet could cause in the Premier League when the lower teams are not performing as well.
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You only have to look at stats between last season and his final season in the French League. His per 90 stats in chances created, shots on target, players beaten and total passes are almost identical from season to season. That kind of consistency across two seasons is tough, especially when switching leagues and countries. He may be at the older end of the player age scale, but he is certainly in his prime.
His performances at Euro 2016 suggest that he is still feeling this good form, and the potential addition of a top class striker at West Ham could see him kick on from his debut season and continue to light up the Premier League. As mentioned before West Ham hit more off target shots than any other team last season, would Payet’s stats have been even better if the Hammers could regularly finish their chances? I think so.
Has Dimitri Payet peaked? Possibly, but I think he’s going to continue his good form into the next season at least, and other Premier League teams are going to have to be extremely wary of his talents over the next season.